The Other Side of the World
by liberalectio
Summary: Santana Lopez, the only heiress of one of the biggest tech companies in the world, convinces Brittany to be in a fake relationship with her, to keep her sick father happy and save the company's image.
1. Chapter 1

Who is Santana Lopez? Well, the answer may vary depending on who you ask. To many she is a spoilt girl who can have anything she wants with just a click of her fingers. They'll probably tell you how she is the only heiress to one of the biggest tech companies, the LP Industries, and how, instead of working her ass off and proving herself worthy of inheriting a billion dollar company, she rather waste her time trying to be the next Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian- sans the sextape (at least for now because every one knows it's bound to happen, Santana being papped almost every week with a different girl).

Anyway, if you ask her "fans", aged 12 to 16, who practically kiss the ground she walks, Santana Lopez is someone who they would kill to be or even be her best friend. They can spend hours and hours talking about how gorgeous she is, how smooth her hair seem, how white her teeth are, how perfect her complexion is. Not to mention how good a role model she is to the young gays of America for being out and proud.

The people closest to her, like her personal assistant, her driver, personal trainer, etc. will probably tell you Santana's okay most days as long as she gets what she wants and how she wants it, you can even joke with her sometimes, as long as you stay the hell away from her when she's having an off day. They admit she can be self-centered sometimes, arrogant even, but those are just the qualities that makes Santana Lopez, well, Santana Lopez. Her old nanny will probably tell you how sweet she was when she was a little girl and will spend hours and hours ranting how her poor Santana was never left alone by those evil people in the media, always wanting to know everything about her.

And if you ask her father, Rodrigo Lopez, CEO of LP Industries — given that you're actually allowed to come anywhere near him by his army of bodyguards and he actually answers your question — he'll tell you that Santana is the most important person in his life, the reason behind all his hard work and the source of all his biggest disappointments.

He's the reason Santana's in this cheap bar, on her way to getting completely wasted. She doesn't really remember how she got here, just that she needed to get away from everything. Nobody would recognize her here and the paparazzi won't come looking for her in a place called ... Randy's, seriously why not just call it Horny's?

She looks around the bar, not the she could see much; the room is dimly lit and she's wearing her sunglasses, for precaution. There are just a few customers, after all it was still early to get drunk, at least by other peoples standards.

She sees two men eating hamburgers at the other side, and she contemplates getting something to eat. She drowns her shot and calls the bartender for another one. The bartender approaches her from where she's been polishing the glasses. She glances at her for the first time, blonde, generic face, _meh, _and points at her empty glass.

"Another one? Already?" The blonde asks with an amused smile, "are you sure? It's only kinda four o'clock."

This annoys Santana, she doesn't need another person questioning her choices, "Jesus! I can't even get a drink without anyone minding my own business!" She looks at the bartender who just shrugs, used to this kind of costumer, "okay, if you want to get drunk." She grabs the bottle from the shelf and pours Santana her drink.

"Now that wasn't too hard, was it?"

The bartender just ignores her comment, "that would be five dollars."

Santana takes out her credit card form her pocket and gives it to the bartender, who snatches it from her hand.

The bartender's just about to walk away when Santana says to her, "you know what? just leave the whole bottle here." The blond girl just drops the bottle in front of her and walks away.

Santana immediately downs what must be her forth shot of the night- afternoon, contemplating pouring another shot and just drinking directly from the bottle instead; the conversation she just had with her father coming back to her.

_"At some point you just have to stop acting like a child and grow up, Santana! I won't always be here to take care of everything! And what will happen then, huh? You'll just keep on partying and having meaningless intercourse and being your irresponsible self. And then what? What will happen to the company? You won't always be young Santana! Think about your future!"_

_"Think about my future? How can I think about my future when my whole life has been set up by you?! You know this isn't what I wanna do and if you had just let me sign the contract, maybe-"_

_"Not this again, Santana! I've told you this before, no one will take you seriously if you pursue a singing career, then everything I've worked for will be ruined!"_

_Santana just shakes her head, "yes, of course the company... That's all that matters to you. If mama could hear you now..."_

_His father sighs, his tough act melting for a second at the mention of her mother. She could actually see the tiredness on his face, his age catching up on him. "You could still sing as a hobby, dear, maybe in some company-" as he goes to touch her harm Santana flinches. They've been through this a hundred times and he already knows her answer._

_Just then he takes a deep breath, his stiff posture coming back. "If you don't start getting your live together, I swear, Santana..." He trails off, shaking his head._

_It's not the first time either that he threatens to remove her from his will, to cut her off completely._

If she only had the guts to cut herself, Santana thinks bitterly, taking another swing at the bottle, but no, she's her father's daughter who always had whatever she desired except for that one thing she wanted the most: freedom. Maybe she can find a job, after all she has a degree. _Nah, he would never allow me to work for another company; he would have me blacklisted._

She scans the room looking for her bartender who still hasn't return with her credit card and is now nowhere to be found, her eyes landing on a waiter cleaning a table and stocking the used plates and glasses. She sticks up her nose, _eww, I'm definitely not waiting tables._ Her thoughts are interrupted by the bartender.

"What now?" She barks.

"Nothing just take these," the blonde hands her her credit card and receipt and then, a bit unsure, she adds, "I brought these also," taking out a cup of yogurt and a teaspoon.

Santana just scoffs, _what, she'll get me a glass of milk next?_

_"_Just so you don't get completely drunk on an empty stomach." She shrugs and gives Santana a small smile, ready to go back to her tasks.

"I didn't know the have yogurts at bars." Examining the cup she gave her, "it's even low fat."

Santana's voice stops her.

"Oh, we- yeah it's actually my snack." Her cheeks coloring.

This cute gesture actually manages to go through Santana's clouded mind

Santana actually looks at her for the first time since entering the bar. She was too distracted, still fuming when she ordered her previous drinks. She notices the blonde hair first, gathered in a pony tail and bangs covering her forehead, _cute, _and then the bluest eyes she's ever seen hidden under those long lashes, bluest eyes that somehow still shine even in the badly lit bar. Her eyes travels down to the blonde's thin lips that still manage to look kissable, _and that freckle on her top lip, _and, of course, lower, to her boobs, decent size, hidden under her blue polo skirt. _Not bad, _she thinks but then her father's words come back to annoy her, _nah just drink til you can't remember anything then call your driver to come and get you. S_he nods at herself thinking of her brilliant plan.

She moves the yogurt towards the blonde, or Brittany as her name tag reads, "thanks, but I wouldn't want to rob you of your snack," and then chugs at the bottle again.

The blonde just eyes her and goes back to what she assumes is the kitchen.

* * *

Thirst is what wakes up Santana. She hasn't opened her eyes yet, already feeling the terrible headache cause by her drowning three-quarters of a tequila bottle. She's not regretting it now because she actually feels better. _It's true then, alcohol solves all problems_, she smiles nuzzling the pillow her head is on.

She's getting ready to open up her eye when, suddenly she felt something wet touch her foot. She immediately bolts up from the bed.

"Ahhh!" She screeches, "what the hell was that?!" She looks frantically at the floor, she hears a meow and catches a glance of a giant ball of fur dashing through the door left ajar. W_hat the hell? Was that a cat?_

She tries to calm her beating heart, her head throbbing with the abruptness of her movements and then she notice her surrounding. Flower patterns everywhere, a double bed that barely fits in the room, a mutant cat?_ Definitely not at home! _ She looks down, her attention drifting to her body that's covered only in her underwear, no bra._ Fuck!_

"Oh, hey! You're awake!" Her head shots up to the direction of the voice, too fast that her sight blurred for a bit. She closes her eyes for a second massaging her temples, then she finally sees; there standing at the door is the bartender from last night with the sweetest smile she's ever seen directed at her.

She realizes what she must have done while completely wasted. _At least I still have game even drunk, _pleased with herself even with the headache.

She takes a deep breath, grabs the nearest blanket to cover herself up and gets off the bed.

"Here," the blonde — Brianna? Brandy? — hands her a glass of water and a couple of aspirins, which Santana immediately takes, swallowing the pills and downing the entire glass. Smiling, she adds, "I thought you might need it after last night..." She bites her bottom lip her cheeks turning crimson.

Santana sighs, used to the whole morning after thing. Looking around for her clothes and phone, she starts, "listen, Brianna, I'm sure we had a lot of fun last night, and even though some may think hooking up with a completely wasted person might be a little bit reprehensible," she kneels down searching under the bed for her missing clothes, "I can't totally blame you that I'm so irresistible and, knowing myself I probably threw myself onto you-" she stops abruptly, when she gets up on her feet, seeing the offended look on Brianna's face.

If Santana was looking she would see the blonde's face change to disappointed, embarrassed, shocked and finally to the expression she is now seeing.

The blonde's mouth is actually wide open, speechless, eyes furious and hands forming a fist ready to smack Santana's face has she been closer. "Excuse me how dare you accused me of that!" Her face is completely flushed, red coloring the visible skin from her chest up.

Santana raises her hand, trying to clam her; the sheet covering her dropping, she's used to her one night stand blowing up on her after a night filled with passion, but she hasn't even said the part of her speech where most of her hook-ups get pissed, so she is quite confuse. "Look, I-"

"No! You look! You think I'm the kind of person who would takes advantage of a drunk woman!?"

"Well, I don't really know you so-" as soon as the words get out of her mouth she realizes that it isn't probably the best thing to say at this moment.

Brianna's jaw drops again, "you know what? Get out of my apartment!" She tries pushing Santana out of the bedroom, but the other girl is gripping the door tightly now.

"Hey wait! I'm only in my underwear!" At this point the scene would seem quite comical from an outsider's point of view, with Santana hugging the door frame in only her lacy purple underwear, topless, and the blonde, almost red from anger and the force she's using to push her out.

"Brianna! Brianna! Calm down ok!" She shouts, panicking at the possibility of being thrown out only in her underwear without her phone or wallet. "Ouch! Calm down!"

The blonde stops for a moment and Santana thinks she has calmed down a bit, but the girl looks directly at her in the eye and shouts, "my name is Brittany!" before she starts pushing Santana out of the door and sends the both tripping in the floor.

The blonde's, Brittany's, forehead hits Santana directly on the crotch. "Ow!" they cry at the same time. Brittany clutches her forehead, not realizing the her face is resting directing in Santana's panty clad sex. "Oh my gosh! Get off me!" Santana tries to push her away by kicking her feet at every direction.

"Wait! Ow!" Brittany jumps on her feet. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to! Sorry!" She tries to help Santana up, who is now clutching her crotch, but instead grabs one of her boobs.

"Stop touching me!" Santana shrieks, her breathing is now heavy. "First you push me out of you room and now you're trying to cup a feel!?" She glances down, "fuck! It hurts like a bitch!"

Brittany, whose face is still totally red, but now with embarrassments, tries to apologize again, "I'm sorry, okay? I over reacted and I'm sorry I hurt you."

"You should be sorry! I think you broke my pubic bone with that big forehead of yours!"

"My big forehe-" Brittany has to take a calming breath after all of this. "I already apologized, more than once and if you don't want me to kick you out of my apartment try to calm down and stop being a bitch!" At this she walks into another room and slams the door, but not before shouting a "stay there!" To Santana.

Santana's left in the middle of what is the living room of this tiny apartment where the blonde lives, still clutching her crotch, with her head pounding. _Fuck! How did I get into this mess! _She goes to sit on a small sagging couch. As soon as she puts her weight on it she hears something crack and her body sinks almost to the bottom _Ugh!_ She's too tired to move so she just grabs a throw pillow to cover her chest and stays there. She can here Brittany moving in the other room but she can't be bother to ask what the other girl is doing.

She closes her eyes trying to remember what happened last night.

She remembers being rude to the bartender and Brittany actually being nice enough to give her her yogurt. She remember eating it quickly while the blonde was in the back, but after that? _Nada._ "Ugh!" She groans.

Brittany comes out of the door carrying two bags of peas. She rolls her eyes and snorts as she sees Santana on her couch. "You broke my couch."

"I didn't!" Santana tries to defend herself, hugging the pillow she's using to cover her chest.

"It was bound to happen sooner or later." Brittany doesn't seem to particularly mind. "I found it on a dumpster." She explains distractedly as she arranges the paper towels and the bags of peas. As she looks up she sees Santana's disgusted face, and chuckles while watching her try desperately to stand up.

"Don't worry I cleaned it!"

That's not enough to convince Santana to stay put, though. "So what? You just moved it from one dumpster to another?" She looks around, finally managing to get up, judging the mismatch furnishings in the small apartment.

The smile on Brittany's face drops immediately. "Here," she gives Santana a bag of peas covered in paper towel, while holding the other against her forehead, "I'll lend you some clothes so you can get out of this _dumpster_ as soon as possible."

Santana flinches at her cold tone, but before she could apologize Brittany's gone into her bedroom.

She follows, holding the pillow on her chest and the bag of peas on her crotch. _Oh that's much better._

She sees Brittany going through her drawers, grabbing a t-shirt and a pair of sweat pants.

She can here Brittany mutter "unbearable when sober" and "so stupid for falling for it". _Wait when sober? Does that mean I'm bearable when drunk?_

"Take these!" She pushes the articles of clothing into Santana's chest, making her drop the pillow and exposing herself.

"Hey!", but the blonde doesn't even notice, already in another room. She puts on the t-shirt and the sweatpants before following the blonde again to tiny room barely able to contain the washer and the dryer, let alone other two people.

"There!" Thrusting a plastic bag into Santana's chest. Brittany crosses her arms, while Santana looks at her confused, "you have your clothes, you're not naked, your phone, keys and wallet are on the coffee table, you can leave now," her head jerking towards the door.

Santana sighs looking at the clothes she had last night, still wet from the washer. "Look, I'm sorry for acting like a bitch, it's not actually easy too wake up and find yourself to be in a place you don't know, naked, and be greeted by someone you absolutely don't remember meeting," she looks up, hearing Brittany chuckle bitterly, "not to mention the hangover." She pouts while massaging her temple with the hand not holding the plastic bag.

When Brittany doesn't say anything, her face impassible, Santana continues awkwardly, "sorry for insulting your apartment - it looks really cozy and homey- and thank you for taking care of me when I was wasted." She stares at Brittany's face, searching for something, "I'm glad it was you who took me home." She gives the blonde her most genuine smile and turns to gather her belongings.

"Wait!"

She turns around hearing the blonde's voice, her smile still fixed on her face. "Yeah?"

Brittany looks like she wants to say something but stops, "nothing. Just that the bar is that way." She points to a street visible through the small window in her living room.

Santana just nods, "right," and waits for Brittany to say something else. Eventually the silence is so awkward, she just grabs her things and opens the door. "Thank you again for everything." She says one last time looking at Brittany's face, something like regret showing in her features, and the she shut it.

Santana takes a deep breath as soon as she closes the door. She doesn't know why but something is making her want to open it again. _No, you bothered her enough for a lifetime._

Just as she is figuring out which way to go, another door opens and she comes face to face with a short brunette. "Ahh!" They shout at the same time. She is trying to calm her breathing when she notices the cheshire grin on the other girl's face.

"Oh my! You're Santana Lopez! And you just came out of Brittany's apartment!" The brunette is getting closer and closer, excited, "are you two dating, oh my god that's-" Santana doesn't give her a chance to finish, she rans towards what she seriously hope will lead to the exits.

"Seriously the creepiest smile I've ever seen!" She laughs, shaking her head while approaching her car.

* * *

Let me know if i should continue this.


	2. Chapter 2

_As soon as Santana's sure Brittany is not coming back she rips open the yogurt and immediately starts eating it as fast as she can, so not to let the other girl see her. _Mmm... cherry, my favorite.

_She finishes eating before Brittany comes back. The blonde looks at the empty yogurt container but doesn't actually say anything to her._

_Santana gives her a polite smile, which the blonde promptly reciprocates._

_She's halfway through the bottle when she hears her stomach growling, realizing that getting drunk on an empty stomach might not be a good idea after all, she calls for her blonde bartender. _

_Brittany is smiling when she reaches Santana. "I hope your in a better mood now. What can I get you?"_

She looks gorgeous when she smile and her eyes..._ Santana thinks. It's true her mood is better now that alcohol is in her system. "Yeah, sorry about before," she gives Brittany a sheepish smile._

_Brittany's grin just get wider and wider the longer Santana stares at her and scrunches her nose when she notices how glassy her customer's eyes are. She chuckles, "you're drunk already, are you?"_

_She just shakes her head, hugging her half empty bottle of tequila. "Just a little bit tipsy."_

_"I can see that. Now what can I get you?" She asks again._

_Santana shakes her head trying to clear the fussiness, "just something to eat, anything edible really."_

_"Anything?"_

_"Yeah, anything."_

_"Okay, but you can't return the food if you don't like what I bring you, deal?"_

_"Deal."_

_Santana is taking another sip from the bottle when Brittany comes back later with a plate of bacon cheeseburger and fries. The smell is enough to make Santana look at her direction._ How can a fluorescent like coming from a bar's kitchen make her look so angelic._ She examines the bottle in her hand. _Angelic? Really, Santana? How strong is this stuff you're drinking exactly?

_Brittany posing a plate in front of her takes her out of her stupor. "How did you know it was my favorite?" She asks the blonde._

_"You don't even now what it is!" Brittany laughs._

_"I can tell from the smell. I'm good at sniffing stuff." Her eyebrows furrows at her words, "just forget I said that."_

_She takes a bite of her hamburger while Brittany watches her with a lift eyebrow, searching for a sign of disapproval. Santana lets at a moan, which the blonde takes as a sign of approval._

_"it's good!"_

_"Thanks! I actually made it, since our cook-slash-owner is passed out," she gestures at a booth in the corner where Santana sees an overweight man, covered in sweat and snoring._

_She sticks up her nose and asks, "that's Randy, I assume?"_

_"The one and only!"_

_Her eyes goes back to the bartender, who is now leaning on the counter. She can't help it when her gaze falls on the top of her unbuttoned polo shirt. _

_Brittany notices where attention is and quirks an eyebrow at her direction._

_She moves her eyes away, realizing how very unsubtle she is being. To get out of embarrassment, she wipes her right hand on her jeans, oily form touching the burger and introduces herself. "I'm Santana, by the way."_

_Brittany takes her hand and shakes it. "Brittany." _

* * *

Santana drives home quietly, her head still pounding despite the aspirins she took. She sighs. "What a morning! And is not even ten!" She scowls at the digital clock on her car. All she wants to do as soon as she gets home, is to take a long bath and relax.

Finally arriving home, she stops her car on her driveway and grabs the plastic bag containing her wet clothes from the passenger seat; no doubt she threw up last night. She regrets not thinking first before opening her mouth that morning. Brittany was nice enough to take care of her last night and was actually decent not to take advantage of the situation. Not many would do that; she have seen enough in her twenty five years of life to know that there are a lot of people willing to use her just to get what they want.

People somehow believe that being close to her will make them famous, or rich, or whatever it is they think they can get if they befriend her. That's the reason she doesn't really have any friends. Sure, there are always people she can call to hang out with but she can never and would never have a heart to heart conversation with them, not that she would want to. _Hell, I can't even trust them with my car, _she thinks bitterly_._ That small accident two days ago was actually the reason of her argument with her dad. She had received a new Lamborghini as a birthday present from him a few months back, and her so called "friends", while completely wasted decided to "borrow" her car without her permission and take it on a joyride. They later hit a post, with one of them actually breaking her arm and, of course, the press managed to blame it all on Santana. Websites reported that she encourage it, that they were all high and drunk, when the truth was she didn't have any idea what was happening.

A few months back for her birthday, she had decided to calm down a bit, to stop going out and bringing different girls home, but her so called friends didn't like it so much, since, without her, they couldn't get in the exclusive clubs anymore. If her dad actually payed attention to her he would have notice it, but no, her father came to her house, furious and shouting, and that's how their argument started.

She gets out of the car and enters her home. The house is bright and spacious, too spacious for a single person. The design was minimalistic, the furnitures where already there when her father bought her this place two years ago. A graduation present he said, but Santana just can't stop thinking he just didn't want to see her face everyday.

She climbs up the stairs and goes directly to the en suite bathroom of her master's bedroom. She quickly prepares her bath and peels of the clothes she's wearing and examines them. The t-shit, she now notices, is a merchandise from a Beyoncé concert, _she has good taste_, while the sweatpants have the logo of some dance academy. _A dancer?_

She folds the clothes neatly and puts thrm on her laundry basket. She's thinks she may return them on a later date.

As she relaxes on her tub, she can't help but think of the blonde. She remembers the way Brittany smiled at her upon entering the bedroom; it was so sweet and genuine. And her eyes... She thought they were bright back in the bar, but seeing them in day light was a whole different experience. She chuckles at how wild those eyes were when the blonde was pushing her out of her bedroom. The same eyes that we're trying to avoid looking at her after the crotch-and-boob incident. How cute was Brittany with her cheeks and ears completely flushed and her bottom lip caught between her pearl teeth.

Santana groans and says to herself, "just relax and forget everything about this morning. Better yet forget everything about the last few days." She then submerges her head completely under the water.

She's humming a melody when Brittany's words come back to her. _"So stupid for falling for it!" What can she actually mean by that? _She asks herself. _Did I sweet talk her while drunk? And she actually believed my drunken ramblings? That would explain her smile. _ She closes her eyes and tries hard to remember the previous night. _Still nothing!_ Not even an image here and there.

There's one image that keeps coming back in her mind, though; the blonde smiling at her. Every time she closes her eyes a new detail comes back to her memory: her pink lips, her shinning teeth, the sparkle in her eyes, her head cutely tilted to one side... _Enough!_

She gets out of the tub, accepting it's impossible to stop thinking of that morning- of Brittany, and goes to dry herself.

She's in the kitchen rummaging for something to eat when suddenly she hears her front door opening and slumming. And then, "Santana!" Her father's strident voice rings through her enormous house, empty except for the minimalistic furniture.

Santana's posture quickly stiffens. She's not ready for another argument, not when she still hasn't digested her father's previous words. _What does he want now?_

Her father calls her again, "Santana, I know you're in here!"

She can actually here the barely contained anger in his voice. _What did I do now? _

_"SANTANA!"_

_"In the kitchen!" _She manages to finally say.

Her father, as well put as always, comes into sight. He's holding some papers that he promptly throws on the table in front of Santana.

Santana doesn't look at the papers. Her eyes locked on her father's expression. She's never seen him this angry. She's actually quite scared.

"Do you mind-" he stops, his jaws tightening. After a calming breath, which Santana doesn't think worked, he continues, "do you mind explains to me why, Santana, why you can't even resist a day without getting drunk and throwing yourself onto the first person you see?!"

Santana, for a moment, doesn't understand how he knows of her drunken adventures, she made sure to go to a place where no one would look for her, but then she looks at the table and sees pictures of her and Brittany from last night, outside the bar. The blonde had her arm around her waist, helping her drunken self stay up. "You're having me followed now?!" She says, outraged.

This, obviously, isn't the correct answers since she can actually see the artery on her father's temple throb.

"That is how you answer me?" He takes a few steps to get closer to her. "I told you just yesterday to lie low, to not do anything stupid at least for a few weeks while the last scandal blows over!" He grabs the picture closest to him scrunching it. "But you couldn't even do that, could you? You couldn't even wait a week?" He sends the picture flying towards Santana, who catches it distractedly.

"Dad,I- I-" she doesn't know what to say or how to defend herself. She doesn't now if she can. Her eyes lifts up from the picture she's examining and fall on her father who is struggling to breath and losing his footing. "Dad!" She runs to him, helping him settle on the closest chair.

Santana's actually scared. She has never seen her father so weak and tired. She kneels in front of him and asks. "Are you all right? Do you want some water?" She looks at him while he shakes her head. All the anger seems to have left him. All that remains is disappointment.

He holds her daughter face with her hand. Santana has to look away. She can't stand seeing the look her father is giving her. "I'm just stressed."

Her father drops his hands and leans on the chair. "Sit down, Santana." He gestures with his head to the seat in front of him. "It's time we have a talk, without all the shouting."

"Okay but not before I get you something to drink." She says, already walking towards the fridge.

She sets down the glass of water on the table while he examines the pictures in front of him, "I didn't send a private investigator to follow you."

"Then who did?" She questions him, scared of the possibility of having a stalker. She's pretty sure it wasn't a paparazzi. No pap in his right mind would look for her at _Randy's_.

"The board members..." Her dad mumbles.

Santana, shocked and furious for having her privacy violated by those old farts, is ready to march in their company building and cut each one of them, but her father stops her.

"Calm down. I already gave them a piece of mind and threatened them with a lawsuit."

"But why would they hire a P.I. to follow me?" She asks, confused.

He takes a sip of the water before continuing. "They don't think you're the right person to take over the company. They think you'll destroy it or something. And since our company is listed on the stock market, they fear the stocks value will drop when you're head of the company, since you're not exactly a image of stability and reliability."

"Well, they're not exactly wrong." At this his father shakes her head. "but why now? Why would they be scared of me taking over? Are you planning to move to a small tropical island and live with a harem?" She attempts to joke.

He runs his hand through his hair, a gesture she never saw her always composed father do. "Santana..." He grabs her hand resting on the table and squeezes it tightly. "Did you notice how lately I've been pushing you more and more? How annoying I've been in trying to convince you to take that position in the company? How I've been trying to, not very subtly, set you up with these women and encouraging you to settle down?" His voice is grave, his eyes searching Santana's.

Santana's eyebrows are furrowed. "What are you trying to tell me?"

"I'm sick, Santana."

Santana pries her hand free from his grasp. "No." She whispers, "no." _It can't be._

"It's called Hodkins lymphoma..."

Santana bolts up from her seat. She doesn't know what to think. This can't be happening.

"... they caught it quite early so I still have a high percentage of beating this..."

She doesn't want to hear any of this.

"... with the best treatment money can buy..."

"No, daddy, please!" She doesn't know what she's begging for. What will she do without her dad? He's the only person she can rely on, the only one who's there for her. Before she knows it her father's arms are enveloping her, her body shaking. "Please, please!" She cries into his chest.

"It's going to be okay, dear, I'm here... I'm here." He hushes her, holding her tightly.

* * *

Later when she calmed down a bit her father brings her a cup of tea. "I haven't prepared a cup in years so just spit it if it horrible." He chuckles.

Santana, curled up in one of her big sofas, takes a sip, "it's actually not _that _bad," but puts it on the coffee table anyway, as her dad sits next to her. "I should be the one comforting you not the other way around. Somehow I manage to make your sickness about me." She's embarrassed by her breakdown in the kitchen.

He puts his arms around her shoulder and says, "don't worry I will beat this thing. I would never leave my little girl by herself."

They talk about the different treatments available, radiation, chemo, the recovery period, the statistics. Santana promises she will accompany him to every doctors' appointment he has, but he puts his foot down, saying she doesn't want her daughter's life to be all about his illness. He tries to alleviate her worries because he has the best doctors by his side and best treatments possible. "Plus I'm very stubborn - you got that from me - and will never let this thing win!"

Santana, tired of all the crying she's been doing, blows her knows and changes the subject. "That position you say you have for me? I want it." She says determinedly.

He studies her face. It reminds him of his when he has his mind set on something and nods. "Very well, but I don't want you to turn your life up side down just because I'm sick."

"No, it's not just because of that. I've promise myself I would changed when I turned twenty five. And so far all I managed is to not go out partying every night." She rolls her eyes at her self. "and just last night I was thinking of getting a job. I just didn't want you to have control of every aspect my life completely."

"I don't try to control you life!" He scoffs.

"You admitted you tried to set me up with those women!"

He raises his hands as a sign of defeat. "Okay you're right I do tend to meddle into your business, but that's because I want what's best for you."

"One of those women spent the whole evening talking about her taxidermy collection and how she can never fall asleep without her moose next to her!" She cracks up.

Laughing with his daughter he says, "you're right, you're right!" Then his faces becomes serious, "but you can't say you have better taste in women." He gestures at the pictures of last night that somehow ended up on the coffee table. "I don't like seeing you being used and taken advantage of."

Santana picks up on of them and stares at the photo. She can't see her face, her hair covering it but she was obviously saying something funny, judging by Brittany's head thrown back in laughter.

"It's not okay what this girl did! You we're obviously not any in the condition to-" he gestures at the pictures, like that explains what he means. "You know what I will find this girl and make sure she doesn't pull this shit again!"

His father's threats makes her look up from Brittany's face in the picture. "Whoa, dad, that's not necessary. We're dating!" _Crap! Did I just say that?_

He stops whatever plan he was coming up with. "You're dating this girl?" He asks, surprised.

"Yes!" _I can't back up now._

"You are dating someone?!" He asks incredulously, a bark of laughter escaping from him.

"What? You don't think anyone would date me?"

Seeing her offended expression, he tries to straighten his face.

"FYI, dad, I have a line of women just waiting for a chance to be with me!"

"You're right, you're right. And it's not that I don't think anyone would be willing to date you, on the contrary! I'm just surprise! You could have told me earlier. I had to hire a secretary to look for suitable women for you to date and interview them."

Santana just gives him an odd look.

"Is she the reason you've decided to stay home most nights lately?" He's examine the picture of the two women, they do seem really close and there's an air of intimacy between them.

"Well..." She licks her lips trying to take her time. _What do I do now? Should I take it back? _Her father's disappointed eyes earlier come back to her. _No, we just started talking for the first time in forever. I can't disappoint him again. Plus I can't let him think Brittany's one of those _girls. "We, erm, she-", she's trying to come up with something but it's hard when he's staring at her with expectant eyes. "Her name is Brittany... uhm... we met six months ago. It took me a while to convince her to get out with me. I must have tired her, though, because, one day, she finally agreed to go on a date with me. We only got together a couple of months ago." _Okay that seems the right amount of information to give him. As long as he doesn't ask anymore question._

His dad doesn't seem to notice anything weird and proceeds with another questions. "How did you two meet?"

_Crap! Why is he being inquisitive all of a sudden?_ She scans her living room, trying to get some ideas, her eyes lading on a picture of her as a little girl with her mama at the zoo, a squirrel visible in background. "She save me from the squirrels!" _What the fuck? That's the best you can come up with?_

Her father just gives her a puzzled look, obviously waiting for her to explain.

"I was jogging when this group of squirrels came out of nowhere and started chasing me? Brittany literally swept me of my feet and saved me from them." She nods at herself, _yeah that's credible enough. _After a beat she adds, "you can say she's my knight in a shinning armor."

"Well in that case, I'd like to meet her to personally thank her for saving my only daughter!"

_No way! _"Of course, but not now. Everything is still pretty new. I don't want to scare her a way."

"Only fair, but do you mind if I tell the board that who they referred to as a _blonde bimbo_ is actually your girlfriend?"

"They called _her_ what?" She's actually mad. _How dare them call someone they don't even know names!_

"Don't worry I will personally make them regret invading your privacy and I'll make sure each and every one of them apologizes to you and to your girlfriend if you decided to take her with you to the company's gala next month."

His words calms her down a bit. She knows her father has his way of making sure nobody crosses him. "I don't need their apologies, and I don't want Brittany anywhere near those pervy old dudes."

"Very well."

Desperate for a change of subject, she moves on to something safer, "are you hungry, dad?"

—

Santana lets out a relief sigh and grabs the pillow next to her, nuzzling it. _Finally this day is over! _Apart from the headache, the crying and her dad's sickness, she can actually say that it was a positive day.

She and her father talked a lot, without shouting, and had a simple dinner that she prepared for the two of them. It was actually nice eating with her father without the tension that always seemed to follow them. She can't say all their problems are gone or that the will never fight again but it's a first step.

They discussed Santana's new job as a new junior marketing executive (her dad wants her to work her ass off and come up through the ranks) and more about Santana taking over the company in the future. She isn't really ready to do that, she doesn't know if she wants to or if she can even do it. She's scared of what would that even mean. _No, he told me not to worry. He has the best doctors, he's a fighter. It won't happen for at least thirty years._

She can't actually think of her life without her father. They disagree on a lot of things, but he's the only parent she's got left. They used to be so close before her mother's death. Then their relationship became strained. She wanted to pursue a singing career but her father didn't think anyone will take her seriously if she did. When she was sixteen a record company actually approached her, even offered her a contract, her father didn't want to hear any of it. He convinced the record to pull back the offer and Santana, for a while, stopped talking to him for that. She went to college and partied her way through it. The media took notice of her antics and soon her face was all over the tabloid. _Daughter of a billionaire gone wild_. She's not sure if she still wants to be a singer. She doesn't even sing that much anymore. She just brings up the contract whenever they fight; she knows it makes him feel guilty.

She's ready to forget everything for the night and finally have her well deserved sleep when she remembers one tiny detail. _Brittany! Fuck! How can I get out of that mess?_

She can't tell her dad they broke up, not when he actually looked proud looking at the picture of the two of them. _No, I have to convince her to date me! _

_But how can you do that when she's pissed at you? _

_Well I'll just have to charm her._

_With what? She hates your guts!_

_I can be charming when I want to. _

_Yeah right!_

_I'll woo her, give her flowers and chocolate and stuff._

_That will surely work!_

_Then I'll think of something else! I really need to stop talking to myself _

_Yeah you're starting to sound like Gollum._

_And sleep! I need to sleep!_

* * *

There's not much Brittana in this chapter, I know, but I'm still setting up the story.

Tell me what you think. I have a clear idea in my mind where I want this story to go but I'm not very sure of my writing skills. I accept any kind of _constructive _criticism.


	3. Chapter 3

_Santana studies her face. Brittany doesn't seem to recognize her and it feels somehow like a relief. Usually when she meets new people, they already think they know everything about her because of what they read on the tabloids and it annoys the fuck out of Santana. _

_She know they think of her as nothing more than a spoiled brat, a privileged kid who just likes to party and spend her father's money. An arrogant, selfish girl who thinks money can get her everything. That's how the media portrays her and, on some aspects, sure, they're right, but they don't know everything about her._

_They don't know how she suffered after her mother's death. It was all so sudden. An aneurysm burst in her head. The rush to the hospital was useless and the week after that, instead of being in Paris like they were planning, she found herself at the cemetery, saying her last goodbye to her mama. She locked herself inside her bedroom for a month, refusing to talk to anyone and opening her door only to let the food inside._

_After that her relationship with her dad became strained. He had no idea how to raise a teenager. He didn't even know how to act around her and buried himself in work. Then the whole record contract ordeal happened and she stopped talking to him. Without her knowing he already planned her whole future. He sent her to his alma mater and enrolled her to the classes he wanted her to take. When Santana protested he threatened to cut her off completely. She complied to his wishes, but did it on her own way. She let loose and her escapades ended up on the front page of the tabloids. She wanted to ruin her image and consequently his and the company's. She was glad when the papers questioned his parenting skills and even his ability to run a billion dollar company, such as L.P. industries. To Santana it felt like revenge._

_Anyway she finished college, just like he wanted, even though it took her five years. She refused the position at the company he was offering and continued with her lifestyle, but, no matter what she did, her dad never acted on his threats and soon she realized he had been bluffing all along. This allowed her to laze around, spending his money until now._

_She realizes her thoughts has brought her away from the present and that her dark mood from before has returned._

_Brittany is still staring at her, waiting to see if she's going to start a conversation with her. Finally the blonde says, "you know what's the purpose of bartenders? Aside from serving drinks?"_

_"To listen to other people's problem?" She answers, knowing where the blonde is going._

_"I was about to say to 'to be shouted at by rude customers', but that too." Brittany gives her a teasing smile._

_She laughs at that and apologizes for before, again. "Sorry, I know I tend to take out my bad mood on others."_

_"It happens a lot, actually." The Brittany gives her a sad smile. "People who come here to get drunk usually have problems," she gives Santana a pointed look, "and they tend to vent on us poor bartenders." _

_"Them having problems doesn't make it alright!" She doesn't really know why she's getting mad. She usually doesn't give to fucks about people serving her. They're being paid to cater to whatever she wants and, if she doesn't like how they do their job, she makes sure they know she's not pleased. But she doesn't like the idea of anyone verbally abusing Brittany._

_"Yeah... But it's actually interesting to hear them talk about themselves and their problems. It makes me realize I don't have it that bad."_

_"Oh so hearing about other people's problems makes you feel better? I was about to tell you my life story but now, I'm not so sure." Santana teases her._

_"I don't mean it like that!" Brittany's cheeks flush._

_"You just said it!" She can't help but continue her teasing. _She's cute when she blushes, _she thinks._

_"Yes but not in a cruel way! Like it makes me feel like my problems aren't that big."_

_"What kind of problems do you have?" She can't help but want to know more about her._

_Brittany blushes again and shakes her head. "You should be the one telling me your problems. I'm the bartender, remember?"_

_"So you want me to tell you my business, but you don't want me to know yours?" She quirks an eyebrow at her. "That doesn't seem fair!"_

_"Ok how about this! You tell me yours and then, if I'm not busy — I'm working after all — I'll tell you mine." _

_"Seems fair enough!" She agrees as she takes a bite of her forgotten burger._

_"Ok! Start then."_

_Santana thinks for a second, while chewing her food, before she answers. "My dad thinks me irresponsible and childish and the whole world agrees with him." She delivers it with a flat tone._

* * *

Even though she fell a sleep late, Santana still manages to wake up early. She calls her dad just to ask how he is. It's something she's never done before, and, to be honest, the first few minutes of the phone call is quite awkward. After inquiring about her father's health, she wishes him to have a good day, ready to hang up. Her dad interrupts her, though, asking about her plans for the day, and if she intends to spend it with Brittany. She hasn't had time to really think about the Brittany situation yet, so she just answers him with "yeah, I'm seeing her today."

Not pleased with her short answer, he asks again. "Are you talking out in a date?"

"Yeah," she answers offhandedly.

"Where?" Her father's tone is different during this conversation. It's like he's lighter.

"Dinner?" She's not really in the mood to come up with something more creative.

"That won't do Santana. You need to take her on adventures with you. That's how I made your mama fall in love with me." He then proceeds to tell her stories from when they were still dating.

"I hope you don't mind Santana, but I called a board meeting this morning and told everyone about your girlfriend and your new job. They we're all embarrassed and apologetic when I was done talking to them." He says almost smugly.

_Crap!_ "Of course not."

Before he hangs up he says to her, "I'm really glad you're finally getting your life together, Santana. I'm proud of you."

Her dad's words surprise Santana. She can count the number of times he said it to her. She smiles at herself, noticing how quick things changed in just two days. She can't help but feel guilty about lying to him, though. _It's just a white lie. It won't hurt anyone._ She tries to convince herself. _ And it's actually making him feel better knowing I have someone in my life. I can't take it back now._

While showering she thinks of the best way to approach Brittany. There is now way she's going to show up at the girl's apartment and ask her to be in a fake relationship with her. No, she knows next to nothing about her but she has a feeling Brittany won't accept to be a part of a deceit.

She has to be smarter than that. She'll go to the apartment and bring the clothes she borrowed yesterday as an excuse. Maybe she'll even buy a bouquet of flowers to thank her again and apologize, then, maybe, ask her to grab a coffee or something. While getting coffee she'll charm her with her amazing personality and offer to take her on a proper date. Yes, that seems like a great plan. They'll be officially dating by then end of the week. Brittany won't know what hit her! Then she'll just make up something to explain to her why her dad thinks they've already been dating for months.

She jumps out of the shower, ready to set her plans in motion. She dressed herself in skinny jeans and a tight blouse; they really show off her assets. And then she puts on her make up, careful to not put on to much. After all she doesn't want to look like she's trying to much or like she's desperate. She's Santana Lopez after all. When she's done, she checks herself on the mirror. _Brittany won't be able to resist all of this. _

On her way to the apartment she stops at a flower shop. She has no idea what kind of flowers Brittany likes. She doesn't know anything about flowers but she does know that roses are too cliched and she doesn't want to seem too boring to Brittany, so she settles on a dozen of lilies.

It takes her a while to get to the building. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going when she drove to the bar and yesterday, she was too distracted to pay attention to the road.

She recognize the building, painted with what once must have been bright yellow, but now is just a disgusting pee color. She sticks her nose up, noticing the graffiti covering the front side. She hesitates when she gets to the entrance. The door is close and she has no idea which buzzer is Brittany's. She's just about to buzz every single on of them when a voice stops her.

"Santana Lopez?!" The voice shrieks. _Oh fuck! _She remembers that voice, she doesn't think she can ever forget a voice as annoying as this girl's. She musters up a smile before she faces the girl.

Just as she expected, the same grin that freaked her out yesterday greeted her.

"I was sure it is you! I can recognize your shinning dark hair a mile a way!" The other girls says excitedly. "I've always wonder if they feel as soft as the look." She reaches with a hand to touch a lock, but Santana flinches away.

Santana has a look of incredulity on her face. Had she known people would try to touch her, she would have brought Beiste. Her bodyguard wouldn't let this troll looking person anywhere near her.

"Sorry! I'm just really excited to meet you. You're actually the first celebrity I've encountered. Well I saw Julia Roberts once, but now that I'm thinking about it, it could have easily been Zoe Saldana. I'm not really sure. It was quite dark after all and raining, and there was a lot of traffic it was hard to see across the street. Anyway that time doesn't really count because I didn't really have a chance to talk to Julia, or Zoe, but here you are now and I have a feeling we're going to be the best of friends!"

"Umm they look nothing alike?" She's a little bit unsure after that speech. She shifts on her feet, feeling very uncomfortable.

"Oh my! You brought Brittany flowers! That's so romantic!"

"Yeah, romantic."

"What are you still doing outside?" The brunette takes her keys out and opens the main door. "Come on!" She gestures to Santana to come in. "I'm Rachel, by the way, Rachel Berry!"

_At least she saved me the trouble of buzzing every apartment in this building._

They climb the stairs up to the fourth floor. Santana isn't really paying attention to whatever the other girl is saying. She's preoccupied by what she's going to say to Brittany. She doesn't understand why she's nervous all of a sudden. It's just a girl! She had enough experience with women to know no one in their right mind will say no to her, but she can stop the feeling.

They reaches Brittany's apartment door and she hesitates to knock. Rachel is babbling about something but she has blocked her a couple of floors ago. She dismisses her with a "yeah, whatever," and the brunette has already closed the door when she registers what Rachel has said. _Wait did she just say double date?_

She has no time to think of a possible double date. She has more pressing matters to take care of. She fixes the bouquet of flowers before knocking on Brittany's door. She takes a deep breath and before she knows it, there she is, with her bed hair, still rubbing at her eyes, only wearing a tank top and sleep shorts. _Cute._

The shock of seeing her wakes Brittany completely.

"Hi!" Santana greets her with the best smile she can muster.

"What are you doing here?" Brittany questions her.

She shows Brittany a paper bag. "I wanted to return your clothes."

Brittany grabs the paper bag and examines the clothes. "Usually when you borrow clothes, it's common courtesy to wash them."

Santana doesn't know is she's being serious or just teasing her. "I can wash them or even send them to to be dry cleaned if you prefer that," she suggests.

Shaking her head, Brittany says, "no, no. I was just kidding you". She gives Santana a smile that reminds her of yesterday's. It's not as sweet as the previous one but it's enough to calm Santana's nerves.

She remembers the lilies she has in her hand. "These are for you," she offers them to Brittany, who promptly accepts them.

"Oh you didn't have too." Brittany says smiling at the flowers. "Come on!" She invites Santana inside her apartment. "I'll just put these in a vase." She leaves Santana in her small living room.

Santana examines the room again. There are pictures everywhere. _She must have a lot of friends_. Her eyes land on a particular picture. Brittany is on stage in a very sparkly dress with at least other seven girls and... _Holy fuck is that Beyoncé?_ She examines the picture closely. And yes, she sure that it is the r'n'b queen. She looks at the other framed photos of Brittany dancing on stage and deduces she's a professional dancer. She moves around the place and goes to sit on the armchair, purposely avoiding sitting on the broken couch again. She can't help it when her gaze falls on the papers on Brittany's coffee table.

Most of them are bills. She can see a lot of envelopes with a 'final notice' stamped on them in red. They're hospital bill. Physiotherapy bills. She pulls back when she realizes she's violating Brittany's privacy.

She's startled when all of a sudden something heavy lands on her lap. _Oh fuck! It's the mutant cat! _Not knowing what to do she starts to pet it and she swears the whole room starts vibrating when it purrs.

"I see you met Lord Tubbington." Brittany says coming out of the kitchen with a vase of lilies in her hands. "He was very excited to meet you yesterday. I had to stop him a couple of times from giving your face a bath."

Santana tries to stop the disgust from showing on her face.

Brittany goes to pose the vase on the coffee table. Her face flushes when she notices the envelopes she's left there. She looks at Santana to see if she saw them. Santana not wanting to embarrass her any further, pretends she doesn't know why Brittany is staring at her. "He's quite heavy." She states, trying to lift the cat from her lap.

"I know! He's supposed to be on a diet but he still finds a way to get his treats." Brittany laughs while discreetly putting the papers away. She moves toward Santana to pick up her cat from her lap and settles on the part of the couch that's not broken.

Santana licks her lips before speaking. "I wanted to apologize again for yesterday. I didn't leave on the best terms with you and I wanted to change that."

"It's alright. You already apologized yesterday. I was upset about something and I took it out on you." She rolls her eyes at herself, giving Santana a shy smile.

"What were you upset about? Did I do something while drunk." she asks, curious.

Brittany smiles drop, an "oh" escaping from her lips. "It was nothing. I was just being silly." She nuzzles her face into Lord Tubbington's, hiding whatever expression she had on.

"Well if you're no longer upset and I'm no longer being a bitch maybe we can start over." She suggests, offering her hand to Brittany. "Santana Lopez. Pleasure to meet you."

Brittany hesitates for a second before putting her cat down and shaking Santana's hand. "Brittany Pierce."

"So will you tell me what stupid things I did while drunk?"

The blonde just smiles, already expecting that question. "Nothing embarrassing really," she trails off, and then, "except for the part where you started to sing and dance along _La Bamba."_

_S_antana's face is incredulous. "I did not!" she denies, even though she has no memory of the night.

"You totally did! And I have witnesses to prove it!" She laughs mischievously.

Santana covers her face in embarrassment. "How many?"

"Don't worry we were only in six to witness the show!" Brittany teases her.

"That's six too many!"

"I personally enjoyed the singing, the dancing not so much."

"Oh god! Stop! I'm embarrassed enough!" She tries to say between laughters.

"Ok I won't tell you how you did the Gagnam style dance then!"

Santana watches as Brittany throws her head back in laughter. She realizes she doesn't want to deceive Brittany, who so far has been only nice to her even when she was being an ass. She doesn't want to use her for her own advantage. _No, she deserves better than that._

"Well not everyone can dance for Beyoncè!" She says pointing at one of the picture frames.

Brittany stops laughing after that and just says "yeah". Santana doesn't know what she said wrong._ Is Beyoncè a touchy subject? Do they have a history or something? _Then she remembers the medical bill she saw earlier. _An injury maybe? _She doesn't know what to say or even if she should say something since she's not supposed to know about it. She just changes the subject and starts talking about Lord Tubbington's diet.

They're having a nice chat while having coffee when they're interrupted by a banging on Brittany's door. They hear a muffled voice say, "Come on Brittany open up! I know you're at home!"

Brittany pales at hearing the voice. "Shit," she mumbles to herself and goes to open the door.

Santana tries to stop her, but she tranquilizes her. "It's okay. It's just Schue, my landlord."

The guy keeps banging on the door until Brittany opens it. She doesn't let him in, instead they talk on the corridor. Brittany shuts the door but Santana can still hear his voice.

"It's already the second week of the month and you still haven't paid me rent, Brittany!" There's a pause and he starts talking again. "You say that every month! Not once you paid in time." Another pause, "this is the last time! if you don't pay rent by the end of this month you're off to the streets." Then silence.

Brittany enters and Santana notices her teary eyes and crimson face. This time, though, she can't pretend she didn't hear anything. Brittany knows how loud his voice was. She avoids looking at Santana while trying to wipe her eyes discreetly. She composes herself before she turns towards her. "I'm sorry about that," she gestures toward the door, "… that was really embarrassing."

"Don't worry about it." she reassures her. "He's an ass for making a scene."

"He's right, though. I always pay rent at least a week late." She runs her hand through her hair, frustrated. "Being a grown up is so hard."

Santana can only agree. But then an idea comes to her, a really crazy one. Brittany needs money and she had plenty of that. And she needs Brittany to be in a relationship with her. _Two birds with one stone. _She just needs to find a way to make the offer to Brittany without sounding like she's buying her or something.

"I have lots of money." She states.

Before she can continue Brittany is already shaking her head. "No, I don't want money from you. I barely know you."

"Yeah, but listen it wouldn't be like me lending you money." She tries to explain. Seeing Brittany frown she continues, "I have a proposition for you. It may sound crazy at first, and it will probably offend you, but, please, her me out first?"

Brittany's brows are still furrowed, but she nods anyway.

"Okay hear me out, okay? I sort of told my father that I'm dating you and I can't take it back." Brittany goes to open her mouth but Santana stops her, "you agreed not to interrupt me. Okay so I told this little white lie that got bigger than I ever imagined and I actually went here today to ask you out on a date, but I didn't want to deceive you. So now I'm making this proposition to you."

Brittany's frown is deeper than before.

"I will pay your rent and your bills — yes, I saw them — if you accept to pretend to be my girlfriend." Seeing Brittany's offended face she quickly adds, "I'm not trying to buy you or anything I just need your help and it looks like you need help too."

Brittany, reassured Santana's not trying to offend her, asks the question she's most curious about. "Why would you tell your father you're dating me."

Santana, waiting for Brittany's answer to her offer, just tells her it's a long story. When that doesn't satisfy her, she elaborates. "The board members of my dad's company hired a P.I. to follow me, to prove to everyone how irresponsible I am. It got to my father and to calm him down I told him we were dating." She doesn't tell Brittany the whole truth, but the important details are there.

"And you can't take it back?" Brittany asks.

"No."

"Why not?"

"For one thing it stopped him from hunting you down for taking advantage of her only daughter." She gives her a pointed look and then adds, "and I don't want to disappoint him again. I've done that too many times now." Guilt suddenly overwhelms her.

"I don't know Santana, I don't really like deceiving people." She's sorry but she can't accept her offer.

Santana deflates hearing her answer. "I understand." She simply states. _What am I gonna do now?_

She's disappointed but she can't do anything about it. It's not like she can force Brittany to be in a relationship with her. "I'll just tell my dad it didn't work out or something." She remembers Brittany's situation. The other girl has it so much worse than her. "I can still lend you the money." She offers, knowing Brittany will refuse.

"I can't do that." Brittany says firmly.

"I'll give you my phone number in case you change your mind." She writes her number down on a piece of paper. "Or, you know, if you ever want to hang out." She shrugs.

* * *

Santana takes of her shoes as soon as she enters her house. She's tired and all she wants to do is sleep on her comfy bed. It's been two weeks since she started working and she is yet to get used to waking up early.

She's quite satisfied with her job so far, but she didn't imagine it to be quite tiring. Her boss, who she thought she could boss around, turned out to be really tough to crack. It didn't help that her father personally told Holly not to go easy on her just because she's the "big boss"' daughter. Santana appreciates that her dad trusts her enough to know she doesn't need special treatments.

She's undressing when her phone rings. She hopes it's not her dad. She still hasn't got around telling him about Brittany. She keeps postponing it whenever she talks to him seeing how happy he is that she's finally grown up. He tells him every time how proud he is of her for having a grown up job and being in a grown up relationship. He's been asking more and more about Brittany and when he's finally meeting her and Santana just can blurt out that there's no Brittany.

She sighs as she grabs her phone, not looking at the screen before answering the phone. "Yes?"

"Santana? Santana Lopez?" Asks an unsure voice.

"Yes?"

"It's Brittany... Pierce." When she doesn't answer the voice continues, "The bartender from Randy's?". The voice is becoming more and more uncertain.

Santana wakes up from her stupor. "Yes, Brittany, sorry I'm just surprise to hear from you."

Brittany answers her with a weak "me too".

She's just about to ask why she's calling when Brittany interrupts her. "Is your offer still valid?"

* * *

Let me know what you think!


	4. Chapter 4

**I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter. I had to rewrite it three times. I was getting so frustrated I almost scrapped the story all together. I'm still not happy about how it came out. It's not like the scene I had in my mind. Anyway here it is.**

* * *

"My offer?" Santana's shock, she's not expecting to hear from Brittany again, not when she seemed so sure of her decision.

"Yes. If you still need me to be your fake girlfriend..."

"I.. uhm… yes, absolutely." Santana doesn't know why Brittany changed her mind but, to be honest, she doesn't really care. This is the answer to her problems because she's honestly running out of reason to tell her father why he can't meet Brittany yet, and she's really having trouble keeping up with the lies she's told him.

"Thank you, Santana." Brittany's voice is quiet. "I wouldn't ask you if I really didn't need help."

"Of course, you don't have to explain to me." Santana tries to reassure her.

"I want to. I don't want to look like a gold digger or something." Santana hears her take a deep breath before continuing. "Randy's closed a couple weeks ago. I've been trying to find a new job, but it's hard and with all the bills… then I couldn't pay rent again in time today and got thrown out…"

"Wait, where are you now? Do you have a place to stay." Santana asks her, worried she's somewhere under a bridge or something.

"Yeah. Rachel - my neighbor - she was kind enough to let me stay at her place. She's actually the one who suggested I call you. She thinks were dating or something."

Santana thinks about it for a second. Brittany agreed to her offer, and her neighbor somehow already thinks they're dating. Surely she can't just not show up there. _Or there will be a hole in our story before we even started. _"I'm coming, give me half an hour."

"No, wait, Santana, you don't have to come here. I don't need-"

"See you in half an hour and we'll talk more, okay?"

Brittany sighs before conceding. "Okay."

As soon as she hangs up, Santana starts to get dressed again. She's tired, but she needs to talk to Brittany in person. She grabs her keys and puts on more comfortable shoes and then she's out of her house in less than five minutes.

* * *

As she promised she gets there in thirty minutes. She immediately notices Brittany outside sitting on a couch in the middle of the sidewalk. _Her couch_. She sees a coffee table and a dresser beside it. She gets out of the car and Brittany greets her with an embarrassed smile.

"You didn't have to come."

"I wanted to... so we can talk in person."

"Okay, we can do that upstairs." Brittany stands up from the couch and heads towards the door.

"Wait! You're just gonna leave your stuff here? You don't think someone might stole them?" Santana doesn't really think it's a bad neighborhood but she would never leave her things unattended here. Not that anyone would want to steal that couch.

"They're all broken anyway and I have all the important stuff at Rachel's apartment."

"Right." She says as she follows Brittany inside.

"Rachel went out. She wanted to give us some privacy, since she thinks we're having a lovers' quarrel or something. So we can talk freely."

As soon as she enters the apartment Santana is immediately blinded by all the pink. "Whoah!" Brittany just smiles, expecting her reaction. "Yeah... don't worry, though. You'll get used to it soon enough."

Santana doesn't really think it's possible. The only things she can distinguish from all the pink are Brittany's suitcases and boxes on a corner. It's like Barbie and Umbridge had a love child who ended up throwing up all over the apartment. She's about to say that to Brittany when she remember the blonde's reaction to her 'dumpster' comment the other day. _Better keep it to myself._

Anyway she's not here to comment on Rachel's taste on furnitures and decorations. She goes straight to business. "So my offer?"

Brittany's eyes widen, like suddenly remembering the reason she's here and she blushes. "Yeah."

"Okay what do you need from me?" She asks bluntly.

"I- I- It's just... I told you on the phone. I wouldn't have called but I really had no choice." She's stammering and avoiding Santana's eyes.

"I know and I believe you." Santana tries to reassure you. "I just want to know how I can help you."

Brittany goes to sit on the couch and invites Santana to do the same. "I just need help paying my medical bills." She's playing with her hands and still not meeting Santana's gaze. "I have a payment plan, but even when I had a job I could barely keep up with it... now I don't even know how..." She runs her had through her hair frustrated by her situation.

Even with her shoulders down, her eyes tired and no make on her face, Santana can't help but find Brittany extremely... _beautiful. Woah! We're did that thought come from?_ The last thing she needs is to be drooling over her. She composes herself before starting, "just the bills then? You don't want me to help you find a job or something."

"No, just the bills."

"Okay. Why don't you write your details down and I'll give them to my secretary. Marley is really good at taking care of stuff like this."

Brittany's head shoots up. "You're not gonna ask me how much I need?"

"No, it'll just make you more uncomfortable and I don't really need to know everything about it."

"Santana, no." She looks up at her with a frown. "How am I suppose to pay you back if you don't know how much I owe you?"

"It's simple you don't owe me anything. You already said you'll help me, right?"

"Yeah, but that's-" She's interrupted.

"No buts, okay? What you'll do for me is more than enough. Actually I'll probably end up owing you in the end." Santana says. She doesn't really want to hear Brittany talk of returning her money. Actually she doesn't want to hear Brittany talk about it again after this conversation.

"That's impossible. And I can't just take your money without-"

Santana cuts her off again. All this money talk is starting to annoy her. "You're not just taking my money, okay? You're gonna help me with something really important. And after you hear what I have to say you might even change your mind."

"You want me to pretend to be your girlfriend. It can't be that hard." Brittany says dubiously.

She stands up from where she's sitting and starts pacing in front of Brittany. She hesitates before starting, "then you obviously don't know what you're getting in to. Not only will you have to pretend to be my girlfriend in front of my father, you'll have to do it in front of the board members and the whole world! We have to stay in character all the time for it to work."

Brittany's breath hitches. It probably not what she was expecting. She probably thought a dinner or lunch here and there would do it. "For how long?"

Her question stops Santana. She hasn't thought of that. She made the offer to Brittany without really thinking about it and when the blonde refused she spent her days musing how to explain everything to her dad. "I don't know."

Brittany frowns at her answer. "What do you mean you don't know?"

"I haven't thought that far yet." Santana crosses her arms defensively. How long will they have to pretend, given that Brittany still agrees to be part of her scheme?

"At least give me a time frame. A month? Two months? Six months?"

Santana's getting annoyed again at Brittany's insistent questioning. She already told her she doesn't know.

"A year? You gotta give me at least a time frame."

"Till my dad's completely cancer free. Is that enough for you?" She blurts out.

Brittany is taken aback by this.

Santana doesn't want Brittany to pity her or anything but she really needs her to do this. "I want him to stop worrying about me and concentrate on his treatment. He's already stressed from work but knowing that I'm doing well helps him. He likes that I'm in a relationship — that I have someone to talk to. It makes him happy when I tell him fakes stories of you." It's the first time she tells anyone about how she really feels. She doesn't like it. It makes her feel vulnerable.

Brittany is quite for a few minutes. She's probably thinking of a way to gently pull out of this.

"I know it's not ideal but I feel like this is the only way to make up for what I did to him in the past." Santana sighs when she doesn't hear a response from Brittany. "It's okay. I understand if you don't want to be part of it. I'll still help you."

"I'll do it." Brittany says, followed by a firm nod.

"You will?" She asks her incredulously.

"I already said I would, so tell me what I have to do."

"Okay... My dad wants to meet you. He's always asking me when I will finally introduce you to him. So there's that. And he mentioned something about the company's gala this month. He wants us to attend that and introduce you to the board members. I don't think those old fart will give us any a problem, though. My dad made sure of that." She explains.

"Okay." Brittany is trying to absorb everything Santana is saying.

"The press will be there and there is no way they won't notice the two of us together, and before you know it, the whole world will know about our business. Wait. You do know who am I right?" Does Brittany know she's the heiress of L.P. Industries?

"Yeah. I may have googled you once or twice after you left the first time." The blonde gives her an embarrassed smile.

"Okay. So you probably have a vague idea how my life is. Constantly under the spotlight."

"Yeah. There's a whole website filled with paparazzi pictures of you."

"Right." Santana cringes; there are some really embarrassing pictures of her floating around the internet. "So you think you're ready for that kind of public scrutiny?" She doesn't want to scare Brittany but she wants to make sure she knows what she's getting into. "They'll try to find out everything they can about you. They'll talk to your family, friends, basically everyone you know just to get their stories."

Brittany's eyes get bigger and bigger as she continues talking.

"Paparazzi will follow you everytime and invade your privacy any chance they get." Santana warns her.

"Are you trying to talk me out of this?"

"No, I'm just being honest."

"We'll I only have an aunt who I never talk to. I haven't talk much with most of my friends since they are all over the world, touring, and Rachel... well, she's Rachel."

"So, you're really accepting then?" Santana's lips form a smile when she sees Brittany nodding.

"Yes," Brittany accompanies it with an eye roll.

"Okay, then we should shake on it." She lamely offers Brittany her hand. "Fake girlfriends?"

The other girl takes it and gives a couple of firm shakes. "Fake girlfriends."

"Okay." Santana is grinning excitedly now. _Finally! _"We have to get to work as soon as possible. My dad really wants to meet you."

"We can start tomorrow." Brittany suggests.

"Perfect." She offers her phone to Brittany. "Write your details here. Full name. Date of birth. Social security number and it will all be taken care of by tomorrow morning."

She gets ready to leave but Brittany stops her. "Can you wait for a bit? Rachel said she wants to see you again."

Santana raises one of her carefully plucked eyebrows. She doesn't really want to see the brunette. Especially talk to her since she creeps her out a bit. "Uhm... no, sorry."

"It just - she's been pestering me with questions about you, even before today, and it might help if you're here to answer them with me." Brittany simply explains.

"You don't have to answer her questions. Just tell her to mind her own business."

"I can't do that. She was nice enough to let me stay here."

Santana sighs and goes back to sit on the couch. "Fine, but I'm tired. I can't promise I'll be nice all the time." Or at all.

"We'll if I have to be your 'girlfriend' you better get used to her presence 'cause she's the only friend I have right now." Brittany tells Santana seriously.

Santana rolls her eyes.

"She's a good friend. I don't know anyone else who's be willing to spend hours looking outside the window, guarding my broken furnitures and shooting anyone who gets near them with a paint gun."

"She did that?" She's laughing. The image she has in mind is just too ridiculous.

"Yeah. I was looking for a job when it happened."

Santana wants to ask more about how exactly she got thrown out but it's not really her business. "Fine." She concedes. "We can practice with her. If that okay with you."

"We have to start somewhere."

As on cue they hear the door open and watch as Rachel opens the door. "Santana!" She cries, like she isn't expecting to find her there. "It's so good to see you again. I have never, in my wildest dreams, imagined you'd be here in my apartment one day."

"Oh, come on, you flatter me!" Santana says sweetly, maybe to sweetly.

"Did you two finally manage to talk things out. Or do you need me to step outside to give you some more privacy. I know from experience that a lovers' quarrel can be difficult and tiring. You have all these strong feelings for one another that sometimes are very hard to control and sometimes a word can be misinterpreted or..." Rachel continues with her monologue, while Santana looks at Brittany, not knowing when is the appropriate time to stop her.

Brittany gives Santana a smile before she interrupts her friend. "Actually, Rachel, that won't be necessary. Santana and I already talked."

"Good. I am happy for the two of you. I was worried when I didn't see Santana here for a while. I thought maybe you where forbidden from seeing each other again."

Santana has a perplexed look on her face. "We're adults. Why would someone forbid us from doing anything?"

"Oh I just imagined that since you come from different worlds that there would be obstacles for you to overcome. And since Brittany has refused to answer any of my questions regarding you and the kind of relationship she has with you, I just assumed that your love is a forbidden one."

"Seriously that's the first thing that came to your mind?" Santana receives a pointed look from Brittany, so she ratifies. "You don't have to worry. We weren't fighting or anything." She scoots closer to the blonde and puts her arms around her waist. "We were just trying to keep everything low key for a while but now we're ready for everyone to find out about us. Right, honey?"

When Brittany doesn't answer immediately Santana squeezes her waist, urging her to agree. "Yes, baby."

We definitely have a lot of work ahead.

"This is just so romantic! So tell me everything? How did you two meet? How was your first date? Tell me!" Rachel says excitedly.

"Uhm..." Brittany looks at Santana not knowing what to say.

"She saved me from squirrels." It's the same story she told her dad and she can't really change that now.

Rachel's smile drops a bit, confused, while Brittany just gives her a 'what the fuck look'.

"Yeah. I was jogging at the park and they came out of nowhere."

"Wow. They're usually very friendly."

"I know. I still tease her for that." Brittany finally buts in. "She was trying to take a selfie with them and she was really bossing them around. I guess the squirrels didn't like it that much since they tried to bite her."

Now it's Santana turn to give the blonde a 'what the fuck look'. Of all the stories she can come up with she chooses that!

"Then, out of nowhere there I was, distracting the squirrels with nuts and dragging her away from the scene." The blonde nods at herself, seeming proud of herself for coming up with that story. When she sees the unamused expression Santana has she simply shrugs.

"Oh my it so cute! How lucky for you, Santana, that Brittany was there." Rachel exclaims, her cheshire grin back.

"Very lucky!" Santana's starting to think practicing with Rachel is not a good idea after all.

"So you two started dating after that?"

"No!" Santana jumps in before Brittany can invent another one of her stories. "She didn't want to date me. I offered to buy her coffee to thank you. Then we started hanging out, without anyone knowing of course... but she made sure to tell me they weren't dates, even though I kept asking her out. We only started dating a few months ago." That's the story she told her dad, if she can remember correctly.

"What? Are you kidding me?!" Rachel is scandalized.

Santana's heart stops. Did she say something wrong. The way Rachel is looking at them now sure suggests it. She eyes Brittany, who is now gaping like a fish.

"What do you mean, Rachel?" The blonde asks her friend.

"Why didn't you want to date her immediately?!" The brunette continues, to the relief of the other two occupants of the room.

"I- I-" Brittany stammers, "I didn't like her life style back then. I thought it was too wild for me."

"She didn't trust me actually!" Santana fakes a chuckle. "But I proved myself to her."

"She did! And I finally accepted."

"And the fact that she couldn't resist me anymore sure help my cause." Santana says smugly.

"Yes, irresistible and modest. The two qualities that I like the most about her." Brittany teases her.

"What can I say? I try my best." The conversation seems to be going well judging by the giddy giggles coming out of Rachel. The brunette also has her cheshire grin on but it doesn't seem as creepy as before. She and Brittany are having a playful banter and they really seem to have chemistry.

"It seems to have worked! You two look so in love!"

At the mention of love Santana's head shoots up. Who said anything about love?

"Yes, we really are." Brittany says before Santana can stop her. She grabs the hand that's still on her waist and gives it a squeeze, while giving Santana a sickly sweet smile.

_Well, I can't take it back now._ Santana thinks about it for a second. She has never been in love before and she has no plans to be in love anytime soon, or like ever, but since it's all a lie anyway it doesn't really matter. "Yes we're hopelessly in love with each other."

Santana sees Rachel about to ask another question, but she doesn't have anymore energy to continue with this act, at least for tonight. She fakes a yawn and looks at her watch. "I didn't realized it was so late."

"Oh." The brunette looks at the wall clock and sees that it is, indeed, after midnight. Her smile drops, disappointed. "Yes, of course. I'm sorry I made you stay up so late. You probably have a busy schedule tomorrow."

She doesn't, actually, since it's the weekend, but she tells her anyway, "really busy. And I have an early start. I'm sorry, I was really having a nice time," she tries to suppress the sarcasm evident in her voice and yawns again.

"That's alright. Maybe we can do it again, sometimes."

"Yeah, whatever." She stands up from the couch, about to ask Brittany if she can accompany her outside so they can talk a little bit more.

"Do you want help with the boxes?"

"Excuse me?" Brittany and Santana say at the same time.

"With the boxes. And the suitcases. Since there are a lot of them. And some are really heavy."

They both look at each other not knowing what to say. "Actually Rachel do you mind if Brittany and I talk in private for a bit?" Santana's the first to recover. She drags Brittany to one of the closed door, which she finds out is a bathroom.

"She thinks your going home with me." She whispers frantically.

"I know. Maybe she thought now that we made up, I didn't have to stay with her anymore."

"What do we do?" Santana asks.

"Nothing I'll stay here and just say you don't have the space or something."

"No, you can't do that. She'll know it's a lie."

Brittany crosses her arms. "What do you want me to do then?"

"Come home with me?" Santana's voice hesitates a bit at the end.

"Why?"

"Because she'll start asking more question if you don't. Like why you have to stay on her couch when you have a rich girlfriend."

Brittany lets out a huff.

"You think you can handle all of that if you stay here?"

"I don't want to bother you anymore than I did." Brittany admits. "You're already helping me a lot and I don't want to intrude your home too."

"You won't. And you're helping me too. I have a lot of rooms at home and I promise you I won't bother you." She tries to reassure her.

Brittany is biting her lip, thinking about it. Finally she gives a weak nod. "Okay."

"Good."

* * *

**Let me know what you think. Reading your review always makes me smile and makes me write more! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**This chapter is a little bit longer than the previous chapters. Anyway thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. Reading them always makes me smile.**

Chapter five.

After loading all of Brittany's stuff and Lord Tubbington in the car and promising Rachel that they will, indeed, go on a double date with her and her boyfriend (Rachel wouldn't let them go without a promise), Santana finally drives off with Brittany on the passenger seat.

"It just for tonight." Brittany starts, "I can crash at a friend's house for a while till I can afford a new apartment."

Santana sighs. She's physically and mentally exhausted. She's having trouble thinking right now. She wants to sleep on her comfy bed so tomorrow she can properly analyze the situation she got herself into.

"Didn't you say your friends are out of the country?" She looks at Brittany from the corner of her eyes.

"Yeah, but I'm sure I can find someone... I don't know... willing to let me apartment sit or something."

Even without looking Santana knows she has a frown on her face. It's the same sad look that greeted her earlier. Santana doesn't like that look on her. _It doesn't suit her_. She thinks of something to say but nothing comes up to her.

She continues to drive and, finally, at the red light she stops and turns to Brittany. She's wring her hands and biting her lower lip while her brows are furrowed. Santana takes the hand closest to her and squeezes it; it's warm and soft. "Don't worry about it. You can stay with me as long as you want. I already told you you're not gonna be a bother or anything."

Brittany studies their hands together before answering her. "I don't want to, like, take advantage of you."

"You're not. I already told you. Think about it as friends helping each other. I help you with your problem and you help me with mine. Simple and easy." She says while softly running her thumb over Brittany's knuckles.

"But we're not friends. We barely know each other." Brittany points out.

For two people who barely know each other their handhold seems kinda intimate though, Santana thinks. "But maybe we can be?" she asks shyly. "I mean, if we're gonna act all lovey-dovey in front of other people, we might as well be friends and try and be comfortable with each other, right?"

For the first time that night she sees Brittany smile genuinely. She doesn't know how she can distinguish it from her other smiles but she can. It's the same smile that greeted her the morning after they met and she can't help but return it with a real one.

It's Brittany's turn to squeeze her hand. "I'd like that."

"It's settled then... we're friends! And now you can stay at my place without feeling guilty." She flashes her a grin.

Brittany shakes her head but she, too, is smiling, "friends."

* * *

"Here we are." Santana says as she turns off the engine of the car.

"Wow." Brittany exclaims, staring at Santana's house.

"Yeah... I told you I have a lot of room for you," she says. "Come on." She gets out of the car and invites Brittany to do the same.

She notices Brittany studying her house and wonders what she thinks of it. It's a classic example of modern architecture with it's minimalistic design, floor to ceiling windows and strong linear element. She didn't pick this place (it was her dad who just drove her here one day, the summer after her college graduation, and handed her the keys, telling her it was hers) but somehow she still likes it. Maybe it's because of how cold and rigid it all looks.

"Do you live with someone?" Brittany asks a bit unsurely.

"No, it's just me here." She opens the trunk and starts getting Brittany's suitcases out. "We should just take the suitcases and leave the boxes here tonight. I think we're both too tired to carry all of them inside."

"Of course." Brittany wakes up from her stupor and helps Santana with her stuff. "And let's not forget about Lord Tubbington."

"I don't think I can forget about him since he spent the last ten minutes making all the possible noises in the backseat." Santana cringes remembering them.

"Sorry about that. He's just been through a lot today and he hates being in a cage." Brittany explains apologetically.

"It's okay..." she shrugs like it isn't a big deal when, actually, that cat made her head ache. "Let's get inside."

She leads Brittany through her front door and into the foyer. She sees Brittany scanning the interior, like she did outside. To Santana it has always seemed frigid and impersonal, after all, an interior decorator took care of the furnishing and she never really bothered to put in any personal touch.

Maybe she'll make some changes, though, to make sure Brittany feels comfortable enough staying here.

"I'll give you a complete tour tomorrow. For now I'll just show you where your staying." She guides Brittany through the staircase and a corridor before opening the door to one of the bedrooms. It's spacious and it will even look more so in the morning with it's cream painted walls and the sunlight passing through the sliding doors.

"Uhm... is this okay?" She asks unsurely.

Brittany chuckles. "Are you kidding? This is more than okay."

"Good. Uhm... the closet's there." She points at one of the two closed doors before opening the other one. "And this is the bathroom." Brittany followers her inside the large bathroom that has both a bathtub and a shower. "It's connected to the other room but no ones there so... It's just you... and me. But I have my own bathroom, so.." She's so mentally cringing at what's coming out of her mouth. "Don't worry about the window. No one can see you from that prospective... I don't know where the towels are..." She huffs opening the cabinets.

"I have my towels in one of the suitcases." Brittany stops her from searching further.

"Right." She goes back to the room with Brittany on her tail and heads to the sliding doors. "There's a terrace here... It has a really nice view."

"It's really beautiful." Brittany comments. The lights coming from the city are illuminating the night. They stand there, with Santana shifting uncomfortably for a while, admiring the city lights.

"What else?" Santana clicks her fingers while trying to find something else she needs to tell Brittany. "Oh," she gets back inside and she grabs the remote control on the night stand before handing it to Brittany. "This controls the drapes, the A.C. and the lights." She explains while pointing at the buttons.

"Everything is really great, Santana. Thank you." Brittany says sincerely.

"Uh, you're welcome..." Santana doesn't know why she's being so awkward all of a sudden, but she just wants to make sure Brittany has everything she needs. "It's late — I should let you rest." She says without moving from where she's standing. "My room is across the hall if you need anything."

"Okay."

"Okay," she says while nodding.

"I think I'll just go directly to bed."

"Okay." She says still nodding and still not moving from where she's standing in the middle of the room, until Brittany gives her a questioning look. "Right... I should let you rest now." Finally she moves to the door.

"Goodnight, Santana." Brittany says, giving her a sweet smile.

"Good night." She closes the door and rests her head against it. What the hell was that?

* * *

Santana wakes up because of the sunlight entering her room; she forgot to close the drapes again last night. She groans and tries to go back to sleep, but she can't. Last night's events immediately floods her mind. After tossing and turning for a good ten minutes she finally gives up, huffing.

She stretches but doesn't get off the bed. She looks at the clock: ten a.m. Brittany is probably already awake; she thinks she can here movements in the house but she's not ready to face the day.

She can't help but question herself if it is a good idea after all. Lying to her father is one thing but getting someone to pretend to be her girlfriend and fooling everyone she knows is a completely different matter. It's not too late, she thinks. She can still cancel the arrangement with Brittany, but that will just bring her back to having to tell her dad how she repeatedly lied to him. Plus, she can't back down now. Brittany is already counting on her.

Brittany.

She sighs. She doesn't even know much about the girl and now she has to pretend to be in love with her. All she knows about her is that she was nice enough to take care of her while drunk, and now she's here at her house. What if she's a serial killer or something?

She rolls her eyes at herself after thinking that. But then again, she may not be a serial killer, but can she be trusted?

Santana already told her some personal things, something she's never done with any of her so called friends, and she feels like she can talk to her, but what if Brittany is just using her? What if she goes to the press, babbling about how Santana Lopez tried to buy her? Or worse, about her dad's sickness?

Santana groans. _No, Brittany didn't even tell Rachel about me. She could have told the tabloids about how I drunkenly gotten home with her but she didn't. She could have taken advantage of me but chose not to._

She decides to just be careful around her, at least till she's sure she can trust the other girl. She'll try and get to know her more, since she doesn't know how long they'll have to pretend to be together.

She gets up the bed and checks her phone for any notifications. There's a message from her dad, saying he arrived safe in New York, but that's about it. She remembers to email Marley Brittany's details, telling her to find out about Brittany's hospital bills and to pay each one of them, as soon as possible. After all she promised Brittany she would take care of it first thing in the morning.

Finally she gets in to the bathroom and ready herself for the day.

* * *

She finds Brittany sitting in the kitchen, wearing a tank top and sweatpants, eating her gluten free cereal without milk.

Brittany looks up from her bowl when she notice her. "You're up! Good Morning. Sorry, I wanted to get you some coffee and bagels before you wake up but I couldn't open the gates and I was really hungry so..." Brittany says before Santana can even open her mouth.

"It's okay." She simply says. She's not a morning person, she's not used to hearing so many words in the morning and it's weird having someone in her kitchen. "And you can eat whatever you want in this house." She opens the fridge looking for something to eat, but she only sees a few bottles of water and nothing else. "If you actually manage to find something other than the cereals," she says before closing it.

"If you tell me where the supermarket is, I can go later." Brittany offers, while crunching on those cereals.

"It's okay. Marley used to do it for me but now that I'm working, I'm never here to eat meals so she stopped. I'll just text her later." She opens the pantry looking for something edible; she doesn't feel like eating those tasteless cereals.

"Marley, your secretary?"

She looks behind her to see Brittany wearing a puzzled look. "Yeah, she's used to be my personal assistant," she admits embarrassedly. "She took care of those stuff."

"You had a personal assistant?" Brittany asks bemusedly.

_Probably wondering why a party girl needed one_, Santana thinks."Yeah, my dad hired her two years ago to take care of my personal stuff when I was too busy... doing other stuff," she finishes unsurely. Marley's old job was basically to baby sit her, make sure she was eating or had clean clothes and check on her every now and then to see if she was still alive. "But now that I have a job, she just acts as my secretary, even though, junior marketing executives shouldn't really have one."

Brittany just absorbs all the information she's giving her.

"Do you want to go to a coffee shop or something? So we can have proper breakfast?" She takes the bowl Brittany's eating from and eyes the cereals critically. "I really don't know how long they've been in my pantry."

Brittany's eyes widen and she stops chewing immediately.

"Come on."

* * *

The drive is quiet, with Santana occasionally pointing to Brittany which street leads where, since it was dark when they got in last night. Santana parks in front of her favorite coffee shop. The coffee is really good, their own blend, and no one really bothers her here.

"Their cornetti are really good too, especially the mixed berries ones." She encourages Brittany to order.

They are seated at a small table near the window, opposite each other. Santana studies the person that's in front of her. Brittany's face is concentrated while reading the menu, her head cutely tilted to the side. Her eyes are scanning the word and her mouth is moving but no sound is coming out. The sunlight coming through the window is illuminating her blonde hair. She can't help but find her absolutely gorgeous.

When their coffees are served, hers a double espresso and Brittany's a peppermint mocha, she starts. "So I guess we should try and get to know each other more? Since I realized this morning that I know practically nothing about you."

Brittany's chewing, but agrees with a nod. She took Santana's advice and ordered the cornetti and it really looks like she's enjoying them. "We should do that," she says after licking her lips.

"So... we're do we start?" She sips her coffee, unsure where to begin.

Brittany munches on her food while thinking. "What's your full name?"

Santana raises an eyebrow but she answers anyway. "Santana Maria Lopez."

"Brittany Susan Pierce. Nice to meet you!" She gives her a cheeky grin.

Santana shakes her head, smiling. "Where did you grow up?"

"Lima." Seeing Santana's confused frown Brittany continues, "it's in Ohio."

"I'm not familiar with it." She looks up trying to remember if she's ever heard about that place before.

"It's not really a big town." Brittany simply shrugs. "What about you?"

"Born and raised here." Santana says proudly. "It's where my dad started his company, where my parents met..."

Brittany nods. "What else... mmh..." she taps her chin with her index. "Favorite color?"

"Red." She smirks. She likes how smoking hot she looks in that color.

"Fits you. Mine's blue."

"Like your eyes?" She says without thinking. During their conversation she is really finding it harder and harder to look away from those blue eyes in front of her. She's trying to establish what shade of blue they are.

"Yeah... but any kind of blue, really... Winter or summer?"

Santana laughs. "I've lived here all my life what do you think?"

"Fair enough. I really like the snow. When I was little I would spent hours playing with it, till I couldn't feel my hands and nose anymore." She smiles remembering. "My uncle would scold me but still make me play the next day, knowing how much I love it. But I don't mind the summer. I got used to it since I moved here."

Santana notices her saying uncle. Last night she didn't mention any parents either, just an aunt, if she remembers correctly. Santana wants to ask but she doesn't want Brittany to close off again like she did when she asks her about dancing. "I love the sun... and the beach."

"I love the beach too!" Brittany says excitedly. "Just dunking you head in the ocean and playing with the sand."

"Mmm..." She's gathering up the courage to asks Brittany about her family. "Last night, you said you only have an aunt?"

The smile drops from Brittany's face as soon as she realizes what Santana is asking. "Yeah, my parents died when I was three. I don't really remember them so..."

Santana stares at her waiting for her to continue.

"My uncle raised me." She let's out a deep sigh and looks down at her food. "He died last year. Liver cancer."

"Oh," is the only this that comes out of her mouth. They sit there in silence for a while, Brittany fiddling with her food, a sad expression on her face, and Santana just staring at her.

"Is that why you agreed last night, even after all the things I told you?" She asks.

"Partially yes." Brittany looks at her before quickly avoiding her gaze. "I mean I really need your help, but I know how it feels like, so..." She shrugs.

Santana nods at this "Well, thank you for doing this. I really appreciate it." She swallows visibly.

"That's what friends do for each other, right?" Brittany says, her smile back on her face, even though it's smaller than before.

"Right." Her eyes dart around, suddenly feeling a bit uncomfortable. "Anyway, I was thinking maybe you can meet my dad this Wednesday? We have dinner every Sunday, but he's out of town right now, so we're having it on Wednesday instead. It's kinda a new tradition."

Brittany's eyes gets big. "This Wednesday? That's only four days from now."

"I told you he was getting impatient to meet you. And four days are enough to get ready for it." She explains calmly. To be honest, she's nervous too but she wants to get this over with as soon as possible.

Brittany lets out a huff of air. "Fine, but no more improvisation like with Rachel. We practice what will say and make up a credible story."

"I doubt we can come up with something worse than me taking a selfie with a squirrel." Santana gives her a pointed look.

"You were the one who told her I saved you from squirrels." She retorts.

"Yeah, I know it's the story I told my dad." Santana says sheepishly. "I didn't have much time to think about it."

"Well I only tried to make it sound more credible." Brittany says as a matter of fact.

"It was not credible at all!" She can't help but laugh though. The whole story is just too ridiculous.

"I saw your Instagram page and you post really weird stuff."

"I don't-" she's about to deny it when Brittany cuts her off. "Remember that picture you posted with a Labrador wearing a party hot on an exercise bike? And what about that one with the gummy bears-"

Santana interrupts her before she can continue. "Fine, I do post weird stuff on my Instagram." She admits, rolling her eyes at herself. "Anyway we can't change that story now, since we already told it to someone. We have to stay coherent with our lies. That's what criminals always fail to do. They mix up their lies and end up with their asses in jail."

Brittany gives her a puzzled look. "So we're criminals now?"

"No, I told you we have to be better than criminals and make sure nobody finds out we're lying." She says earnestly.

"I don't like lying but if I have to do it I want to make sure I don't get caught."

"Good." Then she remembers her worries from this morning. "You can't absolutely tell anyone about our arrangement. If anyone finds out about this I'm screwed," she explains seriously.

"Yeah, I already imagined that." She searches Santana's eyes, before adding, "I know we just met and you don't trust me yet but I won't tell anybody. I promise."

Santana chews on her bottom lip before she decides, "I'll take your word for it." It's not like she can do this whole thing with Brittany while constantly worrying if the other girl is going to backstab her. No, that would just make her go out of her mind. Just this once, she's going to try and trust another person.

She sees Brittany finishing her food. "We can go by the grocery store on our way back."

"I thought you don't eat at home anymore?"

"Yeah but now I have a guest." She simply states.

* * *

She's completely clueless about where to go and has to search on her phone where the nearest grocery store is.

They're on their way there when Brittany starts talking. "You know how you said we have to act all 'lovey-dovey in front of other people?" She asks Santana a bit unsurely.

"Yeah, that's what people do when in a relationship, right?" Santana asked confused about where this conversation is going.

"Yeah. But if we're gonna do it in front of your dad we have to practice. Yesterday, in front of Rachel, was kinda awkward." She confesses.

Santana tries to still a glance at her expression, worried. "Did I make you uncomfortable? You know, with how I acted?"

"No, no... I mean, yes. A bit. But that's because... You know? I wasn't prepared."

"So what are you suggesting?" She raises a questioning brow.

"That we practice getting comfortable with each other." Brittany shrugs.

Santana's eyes widen and she pulls up abruptly. Is Brittany suggesting what I think she's suggesting. "Don't get me wrong here, you're really attractive — insanely attractive — and any other time I would say yes, but our situation is kinda complicated and I can't risk screwing everything up." She looks at Brittany to see a confused look on her face.

"What are you talking about?" Brittany's forehead is scrunched up.

Santana mirrors here expression. "You were suggesting having sex... right?"

"No!" Her face is scandalized.

"Well, you said you wanted to practice getting comfortable with each other!" Santana accused.

"And sex is the first thing that came to your mind?" Brittany's mouth is gaping.

"Wha- what we're you suggesting?" She replies.

"That we hang out and maybe try and hold hands or hug every once in a while." She explains.

"You could have just said that," she says defensively, "instead of phrasing it suggestively." She starts driving again while shifting uncomfortably on her seat.

Brittany just rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "And for the record, I wouldn't sleep with you either."

* * *

Santana parks her car at the store's parking lot, a bit unsure what to do now. "I have to confess something," she starts, "I've never been inside one before." She points at the supermarket.

Brittany giggles. "Somehow I'm not really surprised." Seeing Santana frown she says, "just stick by my side and don't wander around."

Santana scoffs. "Maybe we should try the hand holding thing you were talking about."

"Good idea! Come on!"

They get out of the car and head towards the entrance. Brittany offers Santana her hand. "Would want you to get lost." She smirks.

Santana rolls her eyes but takes the hand anyway. She doesn't know why but it's different from their hand hold last night. That one came out naturally but this? She's actually having trouble finding a comfortable grip on Brittany's hand.

"Stop fidgeting." Brittany warns her before intertwining their fingers. "It's like you've never done this before."

"I totally have." She scoffs before drugging the blonde inside.

There are a lot of people, too many, in fact. She says so to Brittany.

"Well it's a Saturday after all. Come on, let's get a cart." She squeezes Santana's hand and tugs on it. "Do you have a grocery list." She sees Santana giving her a pointed look. "Right."

* * *

"I was thinking," Brittany starts while picking the potatoes (with one hand since she still hasn't let go of Santana's hand), "I can pay for the groceries since I still have some money left."

"You don't have to do that." Santana says absentmindedly. She's really confused about all these vegetables in front of her and why Brittany is taking too long picking each one out.

"I want to. It's the least I can do." She finally puts five in the cart.

"Fine by me. Since I told you I don't really eat at home anyway." She pushes the cart with one hand.

"I thought you were just exaggerating. You never really eat at home?"

"I don't have time to. I always finish late at work now and I don't really cook, so on the weekends I just eat out." She explains.

"And before?" Brittany has passed to carrots now.

"Marley used to buy a lot of ready made dishes. I just had to put them in the microwave. I also used to order food a lot." She looks at Brittany who is examining the carrots. "What exactly are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for cracks. They don't taste good if they're cracked. You want to pick the medium sized, slim ones. They're the sweetest." Brittany patiently explains to her.

Santana squints her eyes. They all look pretty much the same to her. "Where did you learn that?"

"My uncle had a farm we used to go to every summer."

"So you're a farm girl then?" Santana teases, leaning against the vegetable stand.

"Not really, but I really liked being outdoors... Okay I got all the vegetables." She looks at Santana, her teeth biting on her lip. "Do you mind if I cooked dinner for us tonight?"

Santana's surprise to hear this. "For us?"

"Yeah. I want to cook you a home made dinner, if that's okay with you."

Santana smiles without realizing it. "I'd like that."

"Let's go to the meat section." She pushes the cart with one hand while the other tugs Santana.

* * *

They're in line waiting for their turn to pay. Santana is swinging their hands between them, unconsciously. They might have exaggerated a bit and kept their hands together during the whole grocery shopping. It's not as uncomfortable as earlier though, actually, Santana thinks she can get used to it.

She's asking Brittany if she's sure she wants to pay when she notices a teenage girl with her phone turned to them. She's seen it enough to know that this girl is taking a photo of her - of them.

She moves closer to Brittany and whispers in her ear. "Don't panic. There's someone taking a picture of us."

Brittany does the opposite and whips her head to face Santana. "Where?!"

"Nowhere. Just try and look normal, okay?" She knew this would happen. She's actually surprise it took forty five minutes for someone to recognize her in this crowded store but she doesn't want to scare Brittany away.

She tries to put her at ease. Untangling her hand from Brittany's, she places it protectively on the blonde's waist and pulls her a little closer. She feels Brittany stiffen for a moment and then relax.

"Sorry. You warned me last night." Brittany says quietly.

"Don't be. I'm the one who put you in this position." She presses her lips together. They stare at each other for a while, until Brittany gives her a soft smile she promptly returns.

The guy behind them wakes them from their trance. "Hey lovebirds, the line is moving." They give each other an embarrassed smile before pushing the cart forward.

* * *

They spend the afternoon getting to know each other more, asking whatever strange question comes to their minds. Then Brittany goes to the kitchen to start cooking dinner.

Santana takes advantage of the privacy to call her dad, since she's worried his business trip may be stressing him too much.

"I'm relaxing now," her father reassures her, "and eating dinner while watching the news."

"I still think it's not a good idea for you to be traveling to the other side of the country. You work enough during the weekdays."

"The doctors said I can travel without any problem."

"You should have asked Smythe to go since he just sits there in his office harassing his assistant all day." She says bitterly.

"I think our roles have switched." He chuckles affectionately. "I feel like I'm the one who's misbehaving and you're the one who's worrying too much now."

Santana rolls her eyes. It's kinda true, though, how the roles have reversed this past few weeks. "I just want you to take care of yourself."

He sighs. "I am taking care of myself, Santana. Now, it's a Saturday night. Don't you have anything better to do than hassle your poor father." He teases her.

"Actually I'm with Brittany," she says, glad she doesn't have to come up with fake date stories anymore. "She's cooking me dinner."

"Ah. The mysterious Brittany. You know, if I didn't see a picture of you two together, I would think she's just a fruit of your imagination."

Santana laughs nervously since he's not that far from the truth after all. She clears her throats and then starts. "Actually dad I was thinking... maybe I can bring her to dinner this Wednesday?"

"Finally!" he exclaims. "I don't know if I'm more excited or nervous to finally meet the girl who captured you heart."

Santana chuckles. "Well, she's really nervous about meeting you, so go easy on her." She playfully warns him.

"What do you mean?"

"Just that I certainly didn't get my judgmental side from mama." She points out.

"Yes, my dear, I'm afraid that's all my fault." He concedes while laughing.

"Santana where do you keep the spatula?" She hears Brittany shout from the kitchen.

"Oh is that her?" Her dad asks her, curious.

"Yeah... I should probably go and help her."

"Yes, go! I don't want to keep you from her," he instructs her, before adding, "and you know your mother and I, we would spent hours in the kitchen trying new recipes. That was one of our secrets, by the way – we fell more and more in love with each other through cooking." He says with a nostalgic voice.

Santana always feels guilty when he start talking about what he and her mother used to do together, since she knows she won't put in good use any advice he gives her.

"I really can't wait to meet her."

"Well you don't have to wait long." She gulps.

They say their goodbyes before hanging up and Santana heads to the kitchen to help Brittany.

"Oh. Don't worry I found it." Brittany looks up from where she's washing said item, noticing her. "It's covered in dust though."

"Yeah. You can totally tell I never used it." She sees the vegetables and and two chicken legs on the counter and the oven already preheating. "What are you making?"

"Just roasted chicken and vegetable. Is that okay?"

"Totally." She looks around. She's never seen her kitchen like this. It's the first time someone is actually using it. "Do you need help?"

Brittany stops what she's doing and turns to look at her. "Have you ever cooked before?"

"No, but I've never really tried before." She really wants to try cooking.

"Well you don't need to help me." Brittany hesitates before continuing, "I actually wanted to cook you dinner to thank you. So it wouldn't be the same if you helped."

"Oh," comes out of here mouth. "You already thanked me." She doesn't know why she suddenly feels disappointed. She should be glad she doesn't have to get her hands dirty. "You didn't have to."

Brittany blushes. "I wanted to." She reassures her. "So I'll call you when it's ready."

Santana nods but doesn't leave. She starts fiddling with the carrots "I told my dad you're coming to dinner. He said he can't wait to finally meet you."

Brittany inhales deeply. "Okay."

"He said he's nervous too so don't worry too much about it." She drops the carrot and walks out of the kitchen before Brittany can reply.

* * *

They talk during dinner but it's not as playful as earlier. Santana doesn't know why but suddenly she really isn't in a mood for company. She knows she's having one of her mood swings but can't do anything about it.

She tries to answer Brittany's questions but her answers are all curt. She doesn't want Brittany to see this side of her and put her off but Santana has experienced this mood swings enough to know that she can't do anything to make it pass. She's kind of pissed at herself for being pissed without any reason.

She thinks Brittany has finally noticed something is wrong with when she immediately excused herself after dinner, saying she's tired after the day they had.

Santana is left in the living room, cursing herself for making Brittany feel unwelcome.

* * *

**I'm going on a holiday for two weeks tomorrow so. I won't be able to update every three - four days. I'll try to write though.**

**Next chapter: dinner with Santana's dad.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! Sorry if it took me a while to update. I had the worst vacation ever and I'm still recovering for it. This chapter doesn't contain the dinner I promised in the last one but I wanted them to bond some more. I promise it will be in the next one though!**

* * *

Santana heads out of her room carrying Brittany's heavy weight cat, the reason why she is awake at seven a.m. on a Sunday morning.

Santana's peaceful slumber was disturbed by the sudden feeling of suffocating. When she opened her eyes, panicking and grasping for breath, she found Brittany's overweight cat comfortably resting on her chest while staring at her creepily. The cat wouldn't budge off of her so she was forced to pick up the cat and return him to his owner.

That's why Santana finds herself in front of Brittany's room. The door is slightly ajar and the streak of light from a gap from the curtain allows her to see the blonde who is peacefully sleeping. She mulling over if she should wake her up since her cat certainly wants something because he hasn't stop meowing since Santana picked her up.

Santana can't help the smile that's forming on her face, though, while she watches Brittany. She is lying on her stomach, with her hands caught between her body and the bed. Her head is turned towards the door, hair splayed on the pillow with a few strands tickling her nose, making it scrunch every once in a while. Her mouth is slightly open and there is a noticeable wet patch on the pillow. She can hear her soft breathing echoing in the silent room.

Santana's eyes travel down to exposed part of her lower back, her shirt having ridden up in her slumber. Then lower-

"Meow."

Santana jerks, realizing she was creeping on Brittany. She shakes her head and looks at the cat in her arms to find a judgmental expression on Lord Tubbington's face. She didn't know cats can have a judgmental face.

"Can you blame me?" She whispers to the cat, shrugging, before walking away from the door. She goes to the kitchen to where she knows Brittany left the bag of cat food yesterday, guessing it's what the cat wants. She opens it and pours some on his bowl. She hears him hiss after she closes the bag. "No. That's enough for you. Portion control is the way to go." She looks at him pointedly before putting the bag away.

Lord Tubbington immediately devours his food while Santana sits on the kitchen counter checking her emails.

There's one from Marley sent last night, telling her that Brittany's bills have been taken care off. She even said she sent a copy of the receipts to Brittany. Santana is impressed by how swiftly her assistant/secretary gets things done and thinks of giving her a pay raise.

She opens the fridge looking for something to eat. It's significantly fuller than yesterday. Brittany's groceries are neatly arranged inside. She remembers her bad mood last night and how uncomfortable she made Brittany feel last night when she refused to have any conversation with her. All because Brittany said no to her offer to help in the kitchen. What was all that even about? She rolls her eyes at herself.

She's contemplating getting out to get breakfast and coffee when she hears footsteps, followed by a shy "good morning."

Santana turns around and greets her with a smile. "Good morning to you to. I was thinking of going to the coffee shop to get something to eat. Do you want something?"

Brittany's eyes meet hers for a second before they avoid them again. "No- no, I wouldn't want to bother you. I'll just make something quickly if you don't mind me using your kitchen for a bit." She finishes, sucking her lower lip in her mouth.

Santana recognizes Brittany's discomfort, no doubt cause by her cold demeanor last night. "It wouldn't be a bother," she reassures her, "and you can use everything you see in this house."

Brittany nods and offers Santana a smile. She notices Lord Tubbington eating on a corner. She pinks and starts. "You didn't have to feed him. I would have woken up if you told me."

"I had to or he would have killed me!" Santana chuckles, trying to ease Brittany.

"What did he do?" Brittany asks, seriously worried.

Santana shakes her head. "I woke up suffocating under his weight." She states nonchalantly.

"I'm so sorry. He's normally a really good kitty."

"It's fine, really." Santana stops her. "I think he was just trying to snuggle me and I actually enjoyed his company this morning." She looks at the cat who's now licking his bowl. "I think he's kinda mad at me, though. I gave him a portion controlled meal."

Brittany laughs. "Yeah, he usually glares at me all day when I do that." She meets Santana's gaze. "I won't let him bother you next time."

"It's really fine." She reassures her again.

"Well, how about I cook breakfast for the both of us? So you don't have to get out?" Brittany offers, glancing at Santana from under her eyelashes.

"That's really not neces-"

"You can help this time." Brittany says smiling. "So I can see how bad your cooking skills are."

"Hey! I'm not that bad. At least I don't think so."

"Okay, then!" Brittany says while rubbing her palms together. "Let's start. Are pancakes alright?" Brittany waits for Santana's nod before she takes out the ingredients needed and puts them on the counter.

Santana eyes her warily before Brittany tugs her. "Come on. I'll show you how it's done."

Brittany goes on to measure the ingredients and then leaves Santana to mix them. "Just sift the flour first, then add the sugar, backing powder and salt. Mix them together then mixed the wet ingredients in a more bowl. Easy right?" She instructs her with a soft smile.

Santana carefully sifts the flour in a large bowl and then adds the other dry ingredients before mixing them. Brittany's right; So far it's really easy. She looks at the blonde who's moving through her kitchen like she's been using it for years, to show off her work. "See? I'm not that hopeless!"

Brittany just shakes her head and readies the frying pan. "Mix the milk and the eggs now."

Santana pours the milk without problem, but when she cracks the egg against the edge of the counter, it breaks and some of it ends up on her foot. "Ew!" She can hear muffled laughter behind her and turns to glare at the blonde. "It's not as easy as it looks like." She tries to defend herself.

Brittany raises her hands, still not tying to laugh at her face. "Maybe we should start with the basics." She grabs an egg, cracks it with one hand and gives Santana a smug smile.

"Show off." Santana mutters under her breathe while cleaning her feet with paper towels.

"Don't worry. I'll teach you how to do that later." She says with a teasing smirk and proceeds with whisking the mix.

"Hey! I wanted to do the whisking!" Santana stops her. She wants to do it, since it's seems to be the best part of it all.

Brittany raises an eyebrow. "Are you sure you can handle it?"

"Yes, I can more than handle it!" She playfully hip checks Brittany out off the way and starts whisking. "See? I'm good at it!" She says after a while.

"Let me see if there are still lumps." Brittany moves her face closer to asses the batter's consistency, the same time Santana starts mixing it too enthusiastically. Some of the batter fly off, hitting Brittany in the face. "Ah!" The blonde shouts.

Santana moves the whisk away from the batter, in the process flicking more of it on Brittany's face. "I- I-" now it's her turn to try not to laugh, which is proving to be difficult while staring at the blonde's face covered in pancake mix, some dripping in her open mouth. "Is it, at least, good?" She asks cheekily.

Brittany blindly reaches the spatula she's been using and dips it in the batter.

"It was an accident!" Santana backs away sensing what Brittany is planning to do.

"Uh huh..." Brittany takes a few steps towards her, spatula in hand.

"And it's your fault anyway. Why did you put your face so close?"

"Mmmh..." Brittany eyes her with a playful smirk and takes another step closer.

"You can't! You'll mess up the floor." Santana tries.

"Who says it'll end up on the floor."

"Okay! Fine! Just make it quick." She raises her hands in defeat. She closes her eyes as she feels Brittany moves closer, giggling. She cringes when she feels the sticky batter on her skin.

First Brittany moves the spatula carefully above her mouth, then on her chin and finally on her eyebrows. She was expecting Brittany to throw the batter on her face not make her look like an old man.

She feels Brittany gently passing the tips of her finger in her eyelids to remove the excess batter.

"Okay, now we're square." The blonde says proudly, her fingers still moving.

Santana opens her eyes to find Brittany's face a few inches away. From this close she can see the different shades of blue that make up her irises and the freckles dotting her face. She's so close that Santana can taste her sweet breath on her mouth. She can't help but think how those pink lips would feel against her. Are they as soft as they look? Will they taste as sweet?

Realizing what she's about to do, she clears her throat and takes a step back. "Now that you're done with your 'revenge' can we start cooking pancakes, please?"

"Not before I take a picture of us!" Brittany washes her hands before taking out her phone.

"No way!" Santana protests. She probably looks really ridiculous right now. There's no way she'll take a picture looking like this.

"Come on!" Brittany insists already reaching for Santana.

"Say pancakes!" She readies herself to take a selfie.

Santana tries to resist, but is already laughing at the faces Brittany is making. When Brittany puts an arm around her shoulders, she rolls her eyes but poses anyway. Brittany takes a few pictures with them making different silly faces and they look absolutely ridiculous in each one of them.

"No one can ever see these pictures!" She's laughing while looking at them on Brittany's phone.

"I was actually thinking of posting them!"

"No way! Maybe this one, though." She zooms in on Brittany, eyes crossed, trying to look at the tip of her nose covered in batter. "Use this as a profile pic!"

Brittany chuckles looking at the picture. "Well, if we're gonna pretend to be girlfriends, we have to have silly photos together."

The easy smile she has on her face drops, luckily Brittany is still looking at the picture. "Right." That's the reason Brittany's here. To pretend to be her girlfriend, not to teach her how to cook or whatever. "I should go clean up." She leaves the kitchen and heads upstairs to her room.

Santana sits on her bed for a few seconds, replaying this morning in her mind. She thinks of Brittany and how more difficult it's getting to stop staring at her. She's physically attracted to Brittany, that much is undeniable since the more she looks at her the more stunning she seems to get, but she can't absolutely act on it. No. That would just mess up their situation. Brittany is here to pretend to be her girlfriend and that's it. She has to behave herself, even though she hasn't had sex in two months, which is a record for her, and is really horny.

Brittany can only be her friend, but not a very close friend. She's not going to let her guard down completely. She decided not to question Brittany's purpose but that doesn't mean she can let her in completely. Brittany is already getting under her skin. It's weird because she's rarely this comfortable with someone she barely knows. This morning was the most fun she had in a while, at least while completely sober and that she can remember of.

Brittany has to be someone she's comfortable with and that she can semi trust. And maybe she can discreetly ogle her while she's not looking. There's nothing wrong with appreciating from afar. With things decided she goes to clean herself.

She goes down stairs and sees Brittany busy in front of the stove, already with a stack of pancakes.

"I started without you. I was really getting hungry." She turns to show Santana she has already started eating some of them. "But there are still some batter left if you want to try."

"Nah. It's okay. I did enough hard work for the day." She says.

Brittany snorts. "Okay." She puts two plates of pancakes on the breakfast counter and gestures for Santana to sit.

"You know," Santana starts seriously after finishing chewing. Brittany looks up from her plate ready to listen to what she's about to say. "I'm not as hopeless as I look like in the kitchen." She wants to clear that out to Brittany.

Brittany smiles but doesn't say anything.

"I mean... I don't really cook, but it's not like I'm gonna starve to death if no one cooks for me or buys me food." She doesn't want Brittany to think of her as a spoiled baby who needs to be taken care of.

Brittany nods with a soft smile. "You managed to survive till now so I believe you."

Santana returns Brittany's smile before taking another bite.

"But cooking can be fun sometimes," Brittany continues.

Santana quirks an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"I used to be really bad at it my home ec. teacher 'politely' asked me to drop the class." She looks up to see Santana smirking. "But then after high school I moved out here and suddenly I had to learn, since I needed more than an instant noodles based diet as a dancer and I couldn't spend all my money on take outs. I started with the easy stuff but I discovered it was really fun cooking and started trying out different recipes."

"I never really had a reason to learn to cook." She shrugs.

"But you know, if I had to, like in an apocalypse or something, I think could do it."

"You need to be in an apocalypse to start cooking?" Brittany teases.

"No... I'm just saying if I really had to, I could. Like in a life or death situation. It wouldn't necessarily taste good but I could probably cook an edible meal."

"So if I asked you to cook something right now..." Brittany starts with a wicked grin.

"Is there an apocalypse coming?"

"I'm not aware of any eschatological beliefs that points to today's date as the end of the world." Brittany assures her.

Santana blinks for a few seconds. "Then I can't cook." She concludes with a smirk.

Brittany rolls her eyes. "I can teach you if you want," she offers.

Santana stops playing with her remaining food and thinks about her offer for a second. Brittany's here to do one thing, let's stick with that. She remembers her thoughts earlier. "Nah, I'll pass."

Brittany's smile of anticipation drops for a moment, but she manages to catch her expression. "Well, if you change your mind, let me know."

* * *

Santana is sitting in her home office later, casually trolling the internet to see if her and Brittany's pictures from yesterday has reached the gossip sites. It's not something she normally does, look at herself on the internet — actually she has avoided it after the initial thrill of being on the news — but she's really curious.

SLo WITH A MYSTERY BLONDE AT TARGET!

It's what she finds written above a photo of her and Brittany on eonline's homepage. She rolls her eyes at the nickname they gave her. Still curious, she goes to read the article.

Santana Lopez who's been avoiding the limelight since she started working for the LP industries was spotted yesterday holding hands with a mystery blonde. The fact that SLo was in the company of a beautiful woman may not come as a shock to many of you but her whereabouts may...

In fact our favorite heiress/(ex?) party girl was spotted at Target!

Yes, the Santana Lopez actually set foot in a grocery store and not only that, she was also holding hands with the blonde bombshell caught in the picture with her!

She sees a picture of her smiling while looking at their joined hands.

The onlookers said that the pair looked totally taken with each other and we'e acting very couplely.

Another picture of them with Santana whispering something to Brittany's ear, with her arms around her.

There's still no news about who the mystery blonde is, but judging from these pictures it seems like she's not just one of the many women who had been photographed with SLo in the past.

Can she be the reason why Santana has not been sighted with anyone in the last few months? Is she the one who finally tamed Santana?

Santana rolls her eyes after reading it. She has no idea why anyone should be this interested with other people's life, just because they're famous or rich. She goes to the other gossip sites and sees articles about them.

She's contemplating if she should show this to Brittany — the article is not bad per sè, but it might make the blonde realize that everything she warned her about was true — when she hears a knock.

"Come in!" She calls knowing it's the only other person in the house and waits for Brittany to come in.

"Hey." Brittany greets, stepping inside the room. "I received an email from your secretary, or I think she's your secretary. How did she know my email address?" Brittany continues not letting her answer. "She sent me the receipts... Thank you, Santana."

Santana gives her a smile. "No problem."

"It's kinda weird not having to worry about them anymore."

"Good weird or bad weird?"

"Definitely good weird!" She takes a few step closer to where Santana is sitting. "I really can't thank you enough." She says eagerly.

Not wanting the blonde to spend her day thanking her Santana changes the subject. "Don't thank me yet. I have to show you something." She gestures to Brittany to come by her side.

Brittany reads the articles with her lips pressed in a thin line. For a while she doesn't say anything and the silence starts to unnerve Santana.

"So..." Santana starts unsurely.

Brittany bites her lips and moves away from the computer screen. "It's quite surreal."

"Surreal?" She studies her expression to know if that's good or bad.

"Yeah." Brittany shrugs.

"And you're okay with... all of these?"

"I guess..." She leans in to read the article again. "But if I read another "mystery blonde' or 'blonde bombshell' again I'll start throwing a synonyms dictionary at whoever writes them."

Santana let's out a chuckle, glad Brittany took everything humorously. "At least they don't refer to you as the 'caramel mocha frappe skinned party girl'."

"They do that?" Brittany asks,shocked.

"All the time. Not to mention the 'SLo'" She rolls her eyes, remembering the many times she's read an article using food to describe her skin tone or giving her a weird nickname.

"Now, that I'm thinking about it, I'm kinda getting hungry. Do you want to go get something to eat?"

Brittany gives her an apologetic smile. "Actually I wanted to tell you I'm stepping out for lunch."

"Yeah?" She comments, looking back to her computer screen. She was hoping to spend the day getting to know her more, but it looks like Brittany has other plans.

"I'm meeting with a friend... actually, a friend's friend. I called in a favor from a friend and this guy, Mike, he's opening a dance studio." Brittany explains.

Santana's attention picks up at that. "You gonna teach?" She asks surprise.

"No, I'll be the receptionist... I don't dance anymore." She simply says.

Santana's seriously curious right now. From the bills she pretty much gathered that Brittany had an injury, but, so far Brittany hasn't said anything about it to her and she's a bit reluctant to ask about it.

But aren't they supposed to get to know each other and be comfortable with one another?

"Is it about the injury you had?" She musters the courage to ask.

Brittany looks at her, surprised. "How did you know?"

"I didn't look up your medical history or anything." She says before the blonde can jump to any conclusions. "It's just... I saw some of the hospital bills that day. Sorry, I didn't mean to pry."

Brittany doesn't say anything for a minute. Finally she drops on the couch and starts talking. "I tore my anterior cruciate ligament. I wasn't even doing a complicated move. I just made a clumsy step and fell badly." She has to swallow, as if the memory is still to painful to remember.

Santana has no idea what an anterior cruciate ligament is but it seems important. "And you can't dance anymore?" Her question comes out of her mouth hesitantly. She's not sure she should ask, since it's obviously not a very happy memory.

"It still hurts."

Santana looks at her legs, trying to find out which knee she's talking about. "And the doctors can't do anything about it?"

Brittany moves her right leg, subconsciously flexing it. "It doesn't always hurt... Just when I dance. I went to the doctors back and forth. Did a bunch MRI and went to a physiotherapist, but... they just all say the same thing. The knee is fine... the pain is just in my head."

Santana stands up from where she's sitting in front of the desks and moves onto the couch. She licks her lips thinking of something to say. "I'm sorry." She finds those blue eyes she likes so much looking so dejected.

Brittany gives her a pained smile and a small shrug.

They stay quite for a moment, before Brittany notices the time. "I should go. It's already eleven thirty." She goes to stand up.

Santana grabs her arm, stopping her. Then her hand moves against her soft skin so she can squeeze Brittany's. She doesn't want to let her go looking so sad. "I can drive you if you want." It's the only thing she can offer her right now.

"You probably have something better to do. I can take the bus." She says, looking at their joined hands, and laces her fingers with those of Santana. The move seems so natural, almost instinctive.

"I don't think there are buses here... and I was going out anyway."

"Okay."

* * *

Santana is sitting in her office (one of the perks of being the big boss's daughter is that she doesn't have to share a small space with three other people), studying the report from the previous month's sales, when Marley rushes in (the other perk).

"Santana," she calls.

"Yeah." She barely acknowledge her to busy trying not to losing her mark.

"Have you seen this?" She asks with a worried voice, tilting her tablet to show Santana what she's talking about.

TWICE IN TWO DAYS: SLo SPOTTED WITH HER MYSTERY BLONDE

Santana looks at the picture taken no doubt yesterday when she drove Brittany to her job interview. There seems nothing scandalous about the picture nor the headline, so she doesn't really understand why her secretary looks so panicked.

Sure, Marley is probably the only one who can call bullshit on her 'relationship' with Brittany, since she takes care of all of Santana's business, but Marley is never one to ask questions and she signed a NDA so Santana knows she won't be a problem.

"What about it?"

"What about it?!" She mimics, not understanding why Santana is not panicking. "You have a Doppelgänger! Who's pretending to be you. She even has the same car and personalized plate!"

Santana let's out a full chuckle. "Calm down Marley! It's me in the picture."

Marley looks at the image and then back to her twice with an incredulous expression. "But- but you're holding hands with her and _grocery shopping!_"

"Yes. I know I was there." She looks at Marley's confused face and sighs. "She's my girlfriend." She avoids eye contact as soon as she says it.

"Girlfriend?" Marley's incredulous face is back.

"Yes! Is that so hard to believe?" Santana waits for an answer, wanting to see if Marley will actually question her.

"No, sorry. I just- I was..." She shakes her head as to clear her mind. "Sorry... I didn't know."

Santana nods. "Anything else?"

She opens her mouth, hesitating for a second. "No."

Santana watches Marley walk out of here office. She has to talk to her later and find an explanation how she got a girlfriend without anyone knowing and how she managed to hide that fact from her, since Marley was initially — and probably still is — paid by her dad to keep track of her activities.

* * *

Santana's nervous. She's cursing herself right now. One hour till dinner with her dad and she is so not ready for this. Why didn't she wait at least a week?

_Damn it!_

She woke up this morning relatively calm and ready. She and Brittany spent the last few days coming up with a credible story. They even made flash cards so they can keep up with everything. They know each other's birthdays, favorite food, movie, allergies, even their social security number, for God's sake! But then her dad passed by her office just before she was preparing to leave for the day and now she's panicking.

What if one of them says something they shouldn't? What if her dad figures it all out? What if Marley said something?

_Oh God! I can't do this!_

She throws herself on her bed. She's still not dressed and no doubt they'll be late, that's if she decides to go through all of this, but she can't. She groans.

"Santana?"

She jerks hearing Brittany's voice through the door.

"I just wanted to tell you I'm ready."

Santana stands up. She's still wearing the sweatpants and tank top she put on after showering. She opens the door to see Brittany wearing a yellow sundress (she had told her to dress casually since it's an informal dinner) but she still manages to look stunning. Brittany's skin seems to glow even under the fluorescent light and her eyes look definitely brighter.

Santana mentally sighs. She's used to her breath being taken away by Brittany now after spending a few days with her. It doesn't matter if she's wearing sweatpants or a skirt, a loose T-shirt or a fitting blouse, Brittany looks amazing every time and Santana, if she has to be honest, is really finding it hard not to just drag her in her room right now.

"You're still not dress!" Brittany exclaims. "But you said we have to leave early because of traffic."

Santana blinks for a second trying to figure out what Brittany is talking about. "Yeah... I'll be quick." She shuts the door before anymore thoughts can come to her.

* * *

They don't talk during the drive; Brittany is too busy reviewing the flash cards and repeating them and Santana is trying to calm herself by driving just under the speed limit.

They arrive five minutes early. Her dad's mansion is just a few minutes outside the city.

"Wow!" She hears Brittany say. She looks up at the house she grew up in.

"Maybe we'll have time for a tour of the house the grounds later." She parks near a car she recognizes belongs to Quinn Fabray. She frowns at it. Her dad didn't say anything about another guess tonight. He promised a relaxed and carefree evening with just the three of them but the presence of Fabray, their PR, who has a constant stick up her ass, will sure make it impossible.

"What's wrong?" Brittany asks.

She shakes her head still frowning at the car. "Nothing." As soon as they get off, Santana offers her her hand. Brittany immediately takes it and gives it a firm squeeze. The simple gesture calms Santana a bit.

They head to the front door hand in hand.

* * *

**As always ways let me know what you think! And if you have any cute ideas do what you to see them doing while fake dating let me know!**


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